Genesis-chapter 30

30

1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!” 29:31 2 And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of your womb?” 3 So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go into her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.” 29:29 4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. 16:1-4

There is most definitely a bitter rivalry between the two sisters, just as in the case between Jacob and his own brother Esau. The rivalry here though is for the affection of their same husband Jacob. Rachel, the one whom Jacob loves deeply, feels that her sister Leah has stolen Jacob from her, all because of the birthright of the firstborn. This rivalry is compounded by the fact that Leah has bore Jacob four sons, while Rachel has not conceived even one, yet alone a son. Rachel feels that if she can not bear children she might as well be dead. Just as in the case of Abraham and Sarah, Rachel decides to let Jacob marry her handmaid Bilhah so the she can conceive a child (hopefully a son). As was the custom back then, just as it was with Sarah and Hagar: During the birth of the child the handmaid (In this case Bilhah) will deliver the child while sitting in between the legs of Rachel: as if it were Rachel who was birthing the child. Their is a parallel between Leah and Rachel, and Jacob and Esau. Jacob, in a sense did steal a blessing that was meant for Esau with the help, and on advisement of his mother, through deceit, and another time by taken advantage of Esau’s momentarily lack of judgment: Esau despised this birthright, and sold it to Jacob for a pot of stew. This time Jacob is the one who is deceived, and he is helpless to do anything about it. Laban, his mothers sister, tricks him into marrying Leah, all the while thinking he was marrying his true love Rachel. Jacob is beginning to reap what he has sown.

5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.

(H1090) : בּלהה : bilhâh
BDB Definition:
Bilhah = “troubled”

(H7354) : רחל : râchêl
BDB Definition:
Rachel = “ewe”
1) daughter of Laban, wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin
Part of Speech: noun proper feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: the same as H7353: (H7353) : רָחֵל : râchêl : raw-khale’
From an unused root meaning to journey; a ewe (the females being the predominant element of a flock), (as a good traveller): – ewe, sheep.

Here is a prime example of what I have said in the past, in regards to the meanings of names in the scriptures: many of times, the names of people in the bible reflect their personality, or their significance in God’s master plan. As we have already seen in the last chapter; it was Rachel who Jacob loved dearly, making her the predominant Female in the house of Jacob, making her exalted above Leah, and his concubines. Rachel though was very troubled because she could not bear children for Jacob, so she turns to her handmaid, Bilhah, in her time of trouble to bear children for Her. As we see above Bilhah means trouble. I just found this fascinating when I saw the meanings of these names.

(H1835) : דּן : dân
BDB Definition:
Dan = “a judge”
1) the 5th son of Jacob, the 1st of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid (noun proper masculine)
2) the tribe descended from Dan, the son of Jacob (noun proper masculine)

7 And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With great wrestling’s I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali.

(H5321) : נפתּלי : naphtâlı̂y
BDB Definition:
Naphtali = “wrestling”
1) the 6th son of Jacob and the 2nd by Bilhah the handmaid of Rachel (noun proper masculine)
2) the tribe descended from Naphtali the son of Jacob (noun proper masculine)
3) the territory assigned to the tribe of Naphtali (noun proper locative)

Rachel feels vindicated by the Lord for the births of the two sons by Bilhah her handmaid. The meaning of names Rachel has given these two sons of Bilhah reflects Rachel’s feelings: She has wrestled with her sister for the affections of Jacob, and in her mind God has judged her, found her wanting, and answered her prayers. One must still think to themselves that Rachel probably does not feel complete because she has not borne any children of her own. The rituals of having her handmaid give birth to a child between the knees of Rachel, as if it were her that was birthing these two sons, can not satisfy the desire to have children of her own. It is in our nature, that God put into our hearts to have children: “Be fruitful and Multiply” So says the Lord. If we read just a little further in this chapter (Verse 30), where Rachel finally has a son of her own she says “God has taken away my reproach,” meaning Rachel felt shamed, disgraced, because she could not bear children on her own.

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as wife. 10 And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 29:24 11 Then Leah said, “A troop comes!” So she called his name Gad. 12 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son.
13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

(H3812) : לאה : lê’âh
BDB Definition:
Leah = “weary”
1) daughter of Laban, first wife of Jacob, and mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah

(H2153) : זלפּה : zilpâh
BDB Definition:
Zilpah = “a trickling”
1) the Syrian given by Laban to Leah as a handmaid, a concubine of Jacob, mother of Asher and Gad

(H1410) : גּד : gâd
BDB Definition:
Gad = “troop”
1) seventh son of Jacob by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and full brother of Asher.
2) the tribe descended from Gad

(H836) : אשׁר :’âshêr
BDB Definition:
Asher = “happy”
1) son of Jacob and Zilpah
2) the tribe descended from Asher

Again we can find significance in the meaning of the names of Leah and Zilpah. her handmaid. Leah has been wearied ever since this marriage between her and Jacob, and Jacob and Rachel, always vying for the affection of her husband. Even though she has birthed four sons for Jacob, she is still not loved by him, and now that she has stopped birthing children, just as her name implies, she has grown weary for his affections. Out of desperation, Leah decides to give her handmaid Zilpah as a wife to Jacob so he can have more children, in the hopes that this will trickle, (As is the meaning of Zilpah’s name), down to finally winning over the affections of Jacob. Rachel names Zilpah’s first son Gad: meaning troop, (H1413) Rachel is gathering as many sons as possible to cut into the hold that Leah has over Jacob. Then when Zilpah has her second son we read that Rachel is happy (This again is the literal meaning of the name Asher) Am I over-reaching in my commentary to the meanings of Leah’s and Zilpah’s names? isn’t this what Leah is doing here also? I will leave it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions on these verses, and how the names of everyone involved reflect the story line here. One thing for sure though; we are seeing a nation being born little by little, step by step.

14 Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” Song. 7:13 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come into me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night.

So this is what Jacob’s life has come to; A hired servant, a sex slave if you will. He was bargained and sold for some mandrakes so that he may lay with Leah that night. Make no mistake, when we are told that he had to lay with Leah, it wasn’t just to sleep in her bed that night; it was for the purpose of having intercourse with her, so that she may bare a child. This had to cut right to the heart of Jacobs, for it was the woman he loved dearly (Rachel), who sold him off for the mandrakes. What kind of love is that, that a wife would bargain their husband off, (no matter what the cost was), for sexual favors? That has to hurt, it is a wound that can never be healed. Yes God is humbling Jacob, and when God humbles us it hurts. One way or the other it hurts, either physically or mentally, but we must remember that when God humbles us it is out of love. we must also remember that God is also called “Father” to us, and as a Father sometimes He (just like our earthly fathers), has to give us what is called tough love (Some people need a little more of that tough love than others), because we are carnal in nature and we will resist to the core fabric of our being Rom 8:6-7), “To be spiritually minded is life and peace” This is what God, “The Father” wishes for all His children: to have life, and to have it more abundantly (John 10:10), God is a God of peace, who gives us peace always by all means (2 Th. 3:16). This is what God is doing with Jacob here. God has chosen Jacob for a special purpose, but Jacob needs to learn humility. It is no different than how God works through His church when He calls us. We must humble ourselves, and surrender our life to Him before we can begin the process of conversion (which only God can do):

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages, Because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

(H3485) : ישּׂשׂכר : yiśśâśkâr
BDB Definition:
Issachar = “there is recompense”
1) the 9th son of Jacob and the 5th by Leah his first wife and the progenitor of a tribe by his name (noun proper masculine)

Earlier in verses nine thru eleven we read where Leah gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob as his wife so that she would birth children with Jacob, in the hope that Jacob would finally love her the way he loves Rachel, and maybe even more so because of all the children she has given him. Even though Zilpah did indeed birth two sons to Jacob, his love and affections stay the same between Leah , and Rachel. Now that Leah has conceived a son once more to Jacob, she feels that the Lord has rewarded her, for her sacrifice and suffering she has endured. So as we see above this is why she gave the name Issachar to her fifth son.

19 Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.

(H2074) : זבוּלן / זבלוּן / זבוּלוּן : zebûlûn / zebûlûn
BDB Definition:
Zebulun = “exalted”
1) the 10th of the sons of Jacob, 6th and last of Leah; progenitor of Zebulun (noun proper masculine)
2) the tribe descended from Zebulun (noun proper masculine)
3) the land allocated to the tribe of Zebulun (noun proper locative)

This will be the final son that Leah will birth for Jacob. Leah now feels that after birthing six sons to Jacob through her own body, that Jacob will now put her above Rachel. As I have said in the past: when we look at the definition of the names in the bible we can see that they are given these names because of what the name means, or represents. In my opinion this does not slip past Leah’s mind. Like I showed earlier; Rachel means Ewe (which is the predominant female in a flock of sheep), and I commented that Rachel was exalted above Leah and his concubines by Jacob. Now Leah feels as if she is exalted above Rachel and Jacobs concubines, and she is now the predominant female in the house of Jacob because of this sixth son she bore for him. If you notice Leah’s remarks here, she states that Jacob will now dwell with her. This tells me, and proves to me, what I have been saying all along that Jacob has been dwelling with Rachel through all of this because she was and still is the predominant female in the house of Jacob. Even though Rachel sold him off like she did for some mandrakes, as much as that hurt, Jacob will love her more than Leah throughout Rachel’s life, and when she does finally give Jacob two sons we will see that Jacob loves them more than all the other sons he has (including his firstborn).

21 Afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 34:1, 31

(H1783) : דּינה : dı̂ynâh
BDB Definition:
Dinah = “judgment”
1) daughter of Jacob by Leah, full sister of Simeon and Levi

We can’t help but notice the lack of fanfare by the birth of Dinah. we are giving no reason why Dinah was given this name, like we did with the birth of all the sons of Jacob (including those of his concubines). This is because there is more value placed on the sons than there are the daughters back in this time in history, and still is in some cultures (including the Israeli nation). I can only go to the commentaries to explain why the name Dinah was given. I only found one commentary that gives us a reason and this is found in Adam Clarke’s commentary:

And called her name Dinah – דינה dinah, judgment. As Rachel had called her son by Bilhah Dan, Gen 30:6, so Leah calls her daughter Dinah, God having judged and determined for her, as well as for her sister in the preceding instance.

The last thing I would like to point out here is the latter part in the BDB definition, where it list only Simeon and Levi, as Dinah being their full sister. Simeon and Levi are not the only sons of Jacob that she is a full sister to. There are also Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. So I wondered why these brothers are not listed in the BDB definition? I find my answer in Genesis chapter thirty four. In this chapter We read where Dinah was defiled by Shechem, in the city of Shechem. Shechem is also the son of Hamor, an Hivite, and the city of Shechem lay in the land of Canaan. When Jacob and his sons learn of this they were very angry. However, as we read on we see where Jacob and his sons come to an agreement (Or can I say Judgement as in the meaning of Dinah’s name) that all the males in the city should be circumcised along with Shechem and Hamor, but the sons of Jacob were deceitful in this agreement. then in Gen 34:25 we read that it was Simeon and Levi who went out and killed all the males in the city (including Shechem and Hamor), while they were weak from being circumcised. This is the only plausible explanation I can give why only Simeon, and Levi are defined as Dinah being their full sister.

22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. v. 1; 29:31; 1 Sam 1:19, 20 23 And she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” Luke 1:25 24 So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.” 35: 16-20

(H3130) : יסף : yôsêph BDB definition: Joseph = “Jehovah has added”
1. to add, increase, do again
a. (Qal) to add, increase, do again
b. (Niphal)
1. to join, join oneself to
2. to be joined, be added to
c. (Hiphil)
1. to cause to add, increase
2. to do more, do again

By giving her son the name of Joseph, she is in a sense prophesying that the Lord will add to her another son, which is what eventually happens with the birth of Benjamin, but at a much later time. Rachel also states that “God has taken away my reproach” this is what I was commenting on earlier in verse eight: that even though Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid bore children with Jacob, she felt shameful, and disgraced because she could not birth children of her own for Jacob.

25 And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and my own country. 24: 54, 56

Jacob made an earlier agreement with Laban that he would serve him seven more years for Rachel (his true love). With this in mind it must stand to reason that either by Coincidence or the hand of God, that soon after Joseph’s birth these seven years had been completed.

26 “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”

In a demanding way Jacob tells Laban to give him his wives and children. Jacob has served Laban for fourteen years (as agreed upon), basically so he could Marry Rachel (his one true love), He reminds Laban of this agreement, and that He has fulfilled his end of the bargain, now it is time for Laban to live up to his end.

27 And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” 26:24; 39:3 28 Then he said, “Name me your wages and I will give it.

Laban knows that it is only because of Jacob being blessed by God that he has prospered so much in the past fourteen years, and he is not ready to let Jacob leave just yet. He knows though that he must give an incentive for Jacob to stay, so he offers to pay him if he would just stay longer. Laban has no more daughters to sell off, so he is willing to hear Jacob out. Being the deceiver that he is, he will try to manipulate the deal and take advantage of him anyway he can. As we will see in the next chapter this is exactly what Laban tries to do, only God won’t allow him to succeed this time.

29 So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. 30 “For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?”

Jacob reminds Laban that it wasn’t until he came along that God has started blessing him. Before Jacob arrived in Padan Aram Laban had very little in livestock, and Jacob has increased all the he had when he started serving Laban. But Jacob has nothing to show for all his hard work. He has no livestock of his own. Laban has been the one who has provided for the house of Jacob all these years, Jacob owns nothing, he has no possessions of his own. Jacob was deceived into marrying Leah, whom Jacob had no desire for. and therefore was manipulated by Laban so that he could marry Rachel (His one true love). in those days, the wives, concubines and the sons of the servant are considered to belong to the master of the house, in this case that is Laban. during the days of colonialism in America there were people who were called indentured servants. these people were under contract to work for another person for a definite period of time, usually without pay but in exchange for free passage to a new country. This is basically what Jacob has been for the past fourteen years.

31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: 32 “Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and the speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. 31:8 33 “So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.” 34 And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” 35 So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks

Laban ask Jacob what he can give him so that he will stay longer with him. Jacob in turns tells him: “You shall not give me anything” verse thirty three: “My righteousness (My truthfulness), will answer me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you.” What Jacob says in verse thirty three is very telling into the person he has become since first arriving in Padan Aram fourteen years earlier. Jacob’s name means deceiver (supplanter). No longer the deceiver he once was, Jacob will deal with Laban in a just and righteous way, which is an attribute of God, and he will be vindicated by what I would like to describe as his Godly character that has been developed in him, that only by God working in him, thru him, and with him, that he has developed into this newness of life and spirit. Just as we (The church), who are spiritual Israel, that has the faith of Abraham, having been grafted in, being baptized, are now partakers of the promised seed, in which all nations are blessed, in which God now works in us, as he has been doing with Jacob the whole time he has been in Padan Aram. The agreement Jacob and Laban make is this: Jacob will go thru all of Laban’s flock, and separate all speckled, spotted, and brown among the goats and lambs (the males and Females), Jacob will take care of only the unblemished (pure white), of all Laban’s flock, both male and female, and if any of the flock that Jacob takes care of are born blemished then these will be his wages. Laban immediately agrees to this because how can all white goats and lambs breed any blemished offspring? Laban gives all the blemished goats, and lambs to his son’s, and moves them three days away from the unblemished flock Jacob will take care to avoid any chance of the blemished livestock breeding with the unblemished.

37 Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white stripes in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. 38 And the rods which had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face towards the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flocks. 41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and males servants, and camels and donkeys. 12:16; 26:12-14

I had contemplated these verses for a long time trying understand what Jacob is doing with Laban’s flocks, and the use of trees in the watering trough’s and how this could produce a flock of goats and lambs to be blemished. I have found nothing in my research that explains this process, neither by scientific explanation, nor by any commentaries of old like JFB, Adam Clarke, Mathew Henry, etc. etc. There is only one Commentary that I have found that gives an explanation that is logical and explains what is going on that makes sense to me, and that is from my own churches commentary on the matter. Now whoever reads this may ask, “Since it is my own church why did I have to go to other resources in my quest for the truth?’ Don’t I trust in my own church?” I would answer that question in this way. One thing I like about my church goes back to it’s leader who founded the church, (Herbert W. Armstrong), He had a saying that he would say over and over when given sermons or in his magazine: The Plain Truth, he would always say to his listeners, and I am paraphrasing: “don’t believe me, pick up your own bible, prove it to yourselves” and this has been passed down thru the church since then. We are inspired by our leaders in the church to pick up our own bible, do our own studies and prove to ourselves what is truth and what isn’t. so with this teaching, I apply this to my own studies feverishly. The thing of it is, I usually find that I am in agreement with my churches conclusions more often than naught. This is one case where I find that the United Church of God gives the only logical conclusion. so with this in mind I will copy and paste their commentary on verse’s thirty seven thru forty three:

http://bible.ucg.org/bible-commentary/Genesis/Jacob’s-deal-with-Laban-concerning-the-flocks/

Verse 37 begins the equally odd business of the poplar, almond and chestnut branches. Many commentators suggest some kind of magic practice, or that the peeled rods were intended to cause the sheep to imitate the partly colored rods by bringing forth partly colored sheep. Yet this is certainly not what Jacob was engaged in here. Notice verse 38: “And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink.” The word “conceive” is translated from the Hebrew yacham, literally meaning “to be hot,” and which, when speaking of animals, can mean “to be in heat.” By peeling the fresh cut rods (verse 37), Jacob caused the sap-filled meat of the rods to be exposed, thus possibly allowing the sap of the rods to mingle with the water in the watering troughs. Perhaps he believed this additive in the water would help to bring the animals to heat. It has also been suggested that the peeled rods were used as a sort of corralling fence, set up when the flocks came to drink to keep them together longer for mating. Verses 41-42 also inform us that Jacob practiced selective breeding, ensuring that the best of the flock would be subject to his treatment of the water.

But all this did not produce the spotted and colored sheep. These actions only aided Jacob in selecting which sheep would breed at what time. God caused the unusual coloration of the sheep. As Jacob said: “My righteousness will answer for me.” The production of colored sheep was God’s response to Jacob’s righteousness. Indeed, we later find out that Laban, seeing the results, kept changing the deal about which sheep Jacob would get—and, in every case, God followed suit with the coloration of sheep produced. Jacob explained to his wives: “God did not allow [Laban] to hurt me. If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me” (31:7-9).

Jacob had matured tremendously while in service to Laban. He had moved away from his grasping, manipulative ways and had come to the point where he understood that prosperity and protection are dependent on righteous conduct before God. And for that, God rewarded and prospered him. Jacob’s character, however, was to be further developed.

this chapter ends telling us that Jacob became exceedingly prosperous, not just with the flocks of goats and lambs, but also with Female and males servants, camels and donkey’s. like his fathers before him, God has been with Jacob thru it all. the bible doesn’t explain how Jacob attained all this prosperity, but if you go back and read at referenced verses (Compare Gen 12:16, 26:12-14), from verse forty three in this chapter you will see that they refer to Abraham, and Isaac when then became prosperous as well. in these referenced chapters we read that it is the Lord God Almighty, who blessed these men and made them prosperous. The Lord has surely been with Jacob the whole time he has dwelt in Padan Aram and has blessed him tremendously. While Jacob was on his way to Padan Aram the Lord appeared to Jacob and told him the He would be with him wherever he would go (Just as He promised Abraham and Isaac). Even Laban himself acknowledges this truth. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob has learned to trust in the Lord. wherever He tells them to go they go, whatever He tells them to do, they do (John 12:26)

Genesis-chapter 29

29

1 So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.

Picking up from the end of chapter twenty eight: Jacob has just had his first encounter with the Lord where he was giving the blessing of Abraham, from God Almighty. Jacob’s spirits are now lifted from this encounter. Undoubtedly, before the dream (Which today is known as Jacob’s ladder), Jacob was very down on himself. He was all alone in his journey to the land of Haran, (No one to talk to, just his thoughts) the land of his mother Rebekah, the land of his grandfather Abraham. One can only imagine what must have been going through Jacob’s mind as he journeyed to the east. It was probably bittersweet. On the one hand, he is all alone, his family far behind him now, thoughts of times past, a time of reflection, saddened, maybe even humbled a little bit, not knowing if he would ever see his father and mother again, a brother, his only brother, whom he deceived, and now wants to kill him. Was it all worth it? he might have thought to himself at one time or another. Maybe even regretting what he had done. The lord appeared to him at the right time. His spirits now lifted, by faith Jacob journey’s on, with a new sense of hope and purpose. until he finally arrives to his destination (Ps 23:1-6).

2 And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. 24:10, 11 3 Now all the flocks would be gathered together there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in it’s place on the well’s mouth.

We read here that there were three flocks of sheep lying by the well. There are certain numbers in the bible that have spiritual meanings behind them. probably the most popular number is seven, signifying perfection. The number three pictures completeness, yet not as significant as the number seven. A few examples of the number three, or should I say, things that occurred in three’s can be found in the scriptures. first, before the flood were three patriarchs: Abel, Enoch and Noah: Enoch walked with God for 300 years after he fathered Methuselah. Noah had three sons. After the flood we have Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. Jesus was also placed on the cross the 3rd hour of the day, and died on the 9th hour (3 pm), Darkness covered the land for three hours while He suffered on the cross, He was in the grave three days and three nights (Fulfilling the only prophecy that Jesus gave as to how long He would be in the tomb). In 2 Corinthians. 12:2-4 Paul describes that he was in the third heaven which he describes as “Paradise.” I could go on and on where the number three is found in the scriptures, there are over 426 referenced verses in the KJV bible that have the number three, or three hundred mentioned. I have not read them all, but the ones I have read do seem to have a sign of completeness when used in the scriptures. With this said, the three flocks that are seen by Jacob, in my opinion could represent a sense of completeness as far as his journey to the land of Haran.

4 And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?” and they said, “We are from Haran.” 5 Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.” 28:2 6 So he said to them, “Is he well?” And they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.” 24:11, 15 7 Then he said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.” 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.” Ex. 2:16, 17

Indeed, Jacob has made it to the land of his mother Rebekah, and his patriarch Abraham. Jacob also encounters his future love at the well (Rachel). In verse seventeen of this chapter Rachel is described as beautiful in both form and appearance. Before he left Beersheba his father commanded him to take a wife of Laban daughters, his mother’s brother. Upon seeing Rachel approaching the well, and hearing that she is the daughter of Laban, it probably didn’t slip past his mind of what Isaac had commanded him. But Jacob’s thoughts were more fixed on the flocks of sheep at the well, and the livestock. After the cordiality’s, Jacob’s attention is drawn to the livestock and how the shepherds are handling them. Jacob makes a suggestion to them about the care of the animals. This is the first time where we see that Jacob was very knowledgeable about livestock. All we had ever heard about him in the past is that he was a simple man who lived in the tents. by that description one wouldn’t surmise that he was a shepherd. all we have seen of Jacobs character up to now is that of a deceiver (As his name suggest). There is more to Jacob than what we have read thus far. We can also see that he is a very cordial person by the way he speaks to the other shepherds in a polite manner.

9 Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father. 24:28; 28:5

Now that Rachel has drawn nearer the well, her beauty undoubtedly catches Jacob’s attention. Right away he starts to assist her in watering her flock of sheep, he removes the stone away from the well. The stones that covered these wells back then were large and heavy, probably taken two, maybe even three men to remove. there May be a little bit of machismo on Jacobs part here in trying to impress Rachel with his strength by rolling the stone away all by himself. Jacob is so elated that he has finally reached his destination that he kisses Rachel, of course it is probably on the hand, cheek, or forehead. Jacob cries with elation. He has made it to his mothers family. Jacob had to leave his own family behind, so now he feels as if he is home again, around loved ones. Could this have been the same well that Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, whom he sent to find a wife for his son Isaac? We don’t know, but it is something that just crossed my mind, so I thought it would be nice for the reader to ponder such a thought for a minute. and how fitting it would be if it was indeed. In Eliezer’s case, (Who went to find a wife for Isaac), as in the case of Jacob here, who was commanded by his father to take a wife from Rebekah’s brother Laban’s daughters; upon arriving in the land of Haran their future wives is the first woman they encounter. Rebekah and Rachel are both heaven sent, from God almighty! Yet in Jacob’s case, in my opinion, God will use Rachel to humble Jacob, and to give him a taste of his own medicine as far as his deceptive practices. As we will see it will be some years before he will be able to marry Rachel.

13 Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to the house. So he told Laban all these things. 14 And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.

Is Laban’s elation to hear of his sisters son’s arrival out of joy because of the family connection? Or is there more than meets the eye here? We know of Laban’s character when we read about him when Eleizer, Abraham’s servant, came bearing many gifts that he gave to Laban for a wife, for Isaac. Maybe, just maybe, Laban is thinking that Jacob has brought many gifts to give him, which is the reason Laban comes running to meet Jacob. Jacob’s big mistake is telling Laban all that happened in Beersheba and why he is there. Jacob has no where else to turn to, so he stays with Laban for a month. Of course, as I like to state every now and then, this is my own opinion as I feel God’s spirit moves me.

15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me what should your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. 12:11, 14; 26:7 18Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” 19 And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.

A month has passed, assuredly during this time it is obvious to Laban that Jacob has affections for Rachel. It is also obvious to him that Jacob can be profitable to him because of his knowledge of livestock, which he has displayed for the short time Jacob has been there. Knowing this, Laban prey’s on Jacob’s affections for Rachel, he say’s to Jacob “since you are my relative” (as to make it appear that out of loyalty to family, Laban has Jacobs best interest at heart), and wants to pay him wages for his service. All the while hoping that Jacob would ask for his daughter in marriage (Which would be a high price to pay), knowing that Jacob has no possessions to offer him, it would take Jacob years of service to earn Rachel as his wife, and prospering Laban tremendously during that time. Sure enough, Jacob offers to work seven years for Laban, in return for Rachel to be his wife. Jacob is so in love with Rachel that he probably would have worked even more years for her if Laban had asked, but he doesn’t, yet it will take fourteen years to free him of the bondage in which Laban has put him under. Jacob just don’t know it yet. God is going to break Jacob little by little, not all at once, in order to humble him.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go into her.” 22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. 23 Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went into her. 24 And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah. as a maid. 25 So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 “Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.” 28 Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also. Lev. 18:18 29 And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid. 30 Then Jacob also went into Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years. 30:26

After the seven years have passed Jacob ask (In a commanding voice), “Give me my wife.” Laban agrees and prepares a marriage feast for his daughter. Laban has had seven years to scheme, and plot his deception on Jacob. He knows that there will be much celebrating of this marriage, including plenty of drinking of wine. Laban figures if he could get Jacob drunk, he will not have all his wits about him on the night of the consummation of the marriage. As was probably the customs and the laws of the day back then, once the marriage has been consummated Laban knows Jacob cannot disavow Leah. Jacob has prospered Laban tremendously by the caring of his livestock, and Laban will milk Jacob for all he’s worth. That night in the tent it is most assuredly very dim lighted, (Probably set up this way by Laban), and with Jacob being under the influence of the alcohol, his sight is most definitely impaired. Leah plays a part in this deception also, on the advice of her father she makes sure the tent is not well lit, and she may be even wearing a veil, out of modesty, or maybe as was the custom of the time as well. and she probably didn’t speak very much so as to hide her identity as much as possible. Does this sound all too familiar? In essence, isn’t this how Jacob deceived his own father in order to obtain the blessing which was meant for Esau his brother? Isaac was of old age, his sight and his hearing was not what it use to be. Jacob took advantage of his fathers impairment to gain the blessing. He said very little to his father so as not to give up his identity (Just as Leah probably did on this night). The next morning Jacob confronts Laban angrily about his deception. Laban is already prepared on how to handle this matter (Remember, he has had seven years to plan this deception). just as the customs are of Jacobs family, the firstborn has favor over the other children. This has to hit a nerve with Jacob, he has been beating at his own game. Laban tells Jacob that if he fulfills Leah’s week: this must be in reference to the wedding feast and how long the feast last with all it’s traditions and ceremonies. Laban is not stupid however, he will not make Jacob wait another seven years (for fear that Jacob might just change his mind and leave), before he can marry Rachel. Laban only makes Jacob wait one week to marry his true love, but in turn he has to serve Laban another seven years. Jacob loves Rachel so much, and he probably thinks to himself, “The first seven years went by so quickly and I wasn’t even married to her during this time, at least she will be my wife during next seven years of service.” So Jacob agrees, and after the week has passed he marries Rachel. The last thing i want to point out is the fact that Jacob had to serve Laban seven years each for Leah and Rachel. As I touched on earlier; seven is the sign of perfection in the scriptures. In this case we see seven times two, which could have a more meaningful significance to the spiritual side of this union. After all a nation will be born out of these marriages, and not just any nation, but a nation unto God, a holy people (Compare Lev 11:44-45, 19:1-2, 20:7,26).

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. 30:1 32 So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.”

As I stated back in Genesis five, I think it is important to understand the meaning of the names in the bible, sometimes for the purpose of understanding Bible prophecy, and other times such as now, to understand why these sons were given their prospective names. In these final verses of this chapter, Leah makes a statement about the birth of the child and, understanding the meaning of the name, we can now understand why Leah named them the way she did. In this instance (Verse 32), the key words are; “Leah conceived and bore a son” “Behold a son” is the meaning of Reuben. Also in this particular instance, just a reminder to the reader; it is considered a higher esteem to have sons over daughters. Leah herself even acknowledges this by her statement: that the Lord has seen her affliction, and blesses her with a son, so that her husband will now love her. One other thing I would like to point out at this moment, is for the reader to notice, that after the births of her sons, Leah always acknowledge’s that it is God who blesses her and heard her prayer’s. We must all be reminded that our Great Creator God is the one who gives us all that we have. For we can do nothing without Him, He is the great provider. As Abraham once told Isaac, (And as you will notice from the front page of my website), “The Lord Will Provide” We owe everything we have to Him, for those who believe, Amen!!

(H7205) : ראוּבן : re’ûbên
BDB Definition:
Reuben = “behold a son”
1) the eldest son of Jacob by Leah
2) the tribe descended from Reuben
3) the territory inhabited by the tribe of Reuben

33 Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.

Simeon, the second son of Leah’s. The keywords to Leah’s statement here are, Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved” And again, Leah acknowledge’s God’s hand in this birth.

(H8095) : שׁמעון : shim‛ôn
BDB Definition:
Simeon or Shimeon = “heard”
1) the 2nd son of Jacob by his wife Leah and progenitor of the tribe of Simeon

34 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have bore him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.

Levi, the third son, whose descendants will one day bare the responsibility of tending to the Tabernacle of God, and the Ark of the Covenant. The tribe of Levi will also not be partakers of the inheritance of the other tribes of Israel as far as the land inheritance, Because they will be the priest of God, they shall have “No part in them” I take that to mean that the Levites will be a special Holy people of priest among the children of Israel. Also as stated in the book of Numbers 18:23, “They shall bear their iniquity” (The Israeli nation), until such a higher priest comes to bear the iniquities for all mankind which will be our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Num 18:20-24), in this verse Leah again acknowledges Gods blessing upon her, and she says, “This time my husband will be attached to me,” and as we look at the Hebrew definition of Levi it means “Joined to” In my opinion, this has a dual reference in the name; the duality being that the Levites are also “attached” to God because He is their inheritance, as I quoted from Numbers 18:20 above.

(H3878) : לוי : lêvı̂y
BDB Definition:
Levi = “joined to”
1) the 3rd son of Jacob by Leah and progenitor of tribe of Levites

35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing. 49:8-12; Matt. 1:2, 3

Judah, the son from which all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. It is out of the seed of Judah that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from. Upon His shoulders shall all the iniquities of the world be. As in the order of Melchizedek, before Jesus Came, and before the tribe of the Levites was Melchizedek, who was a high priest in which Abraham gave tenth of all that he had (Compare Gen 14:18-20, Heb 5:4-6), just as it says in Hebrews “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” is it no coincidence that Judah was born right after Levi? I think not!! This is just another example that our Holy Bible and all that is in it is truly God breathed, and His hands are in the every day lives of people, especially of those whom His purpose will be played out on the world stage. It isn’t until the birth of Leah’s fourth son that she say’s, “Now I will praise the Lord.” apparently, even though Leah acknowledges God’s hand in the birth of her first three sons, she does not praise and give God the glory for the sons she has birthed. The Hebrew definition for Judah is “Praised”

(H3063) : יהוּדה : yehûdâh BDB Definition: Judah = “praised” 1) the son of Jacob by Leah 2) the tribe descended from Judah the son of Jacob 3) the territory occupied by the tribe of Judah 4) the kingdom comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin which occupied the southern part of Canaan after the nation split upon the death of Solomon.

After studying verses 31-35, one cant walk away not feeling Leah’s pain. Undoubtedly she was used by her father and forced into a marriage by a man who did not love her. The fact that Jacob was deceived into this marriage probably made him all the more bitter, and unloving towards Leah. As we can see in these verses Leah cries out to the Lord for love and acceptance from her husband. She feels that if she could only bear him a son he would love her, but we see in every instance that this does not happen. One might ask themselves, “why does Jacob sleep with Leah all these times if he doesn’t love her?” On reason could be the carnal nature of man (The lust of the flesh), the other reason could be that Jacobs wants sons, and as we will see in the next chapter Rachel is barren and has not been able to conceive children for him. And then there is God’s divine providence, God had this all planned out since before the foundation of the earth Eph 1:3-6).

Genesis-chapter28

1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
2 “Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 24: 2-4

If we look back, we see that all three patriarchs married within the family of Terah (Who is the father of both Abraham and Sarah), grandfather of Isaac, and great grandfather of Rebekah. Jacob is the great grandson of Terah, and as we will see; Terah is the great great grandfather of both Leah, and Rachel, (Who are to become the wives of Jacob), Now I must remind the reader that God is Holy, the promised seed of the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham must be of a pure bloodline, undefiled, and Holy in and of itself. If one was to trace the family tree of Abraham all the way to the promised seed (Jesus Christ), they would see that this bloodline remains intact, undefiled, and Holy. Isaac commands His son Jacob to go to the family of Rebekah (His mother), Isaac is very specific to Jacob as to who he should marry: he must marry a daughter of Laban, (Who is Rebekah’s brother), so in essence Jacob is going to marry his first cousins. Yes it is incest by definition, but these marriages are ordained by God Almighty, in order to fulfill His purpose for mankind.

3 “May God Almighty bless you,
and make you fruitful and
multiply you, 26:4, 24
That you may be an assembly
of peoples;
4 And give you the blessing of
Abraham, 12:1-3
To you and your descendants
with you,
That you may inherit the land
In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to
Abraham.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. 27:43

Here is the first time we see Isaac passing down the covenant God made with Abraham. As I stated in the previous chapter, the blessing Isaac gave to Jacob was not the Abrahamic covenant of the promised seed, because it was only a blessing of prosperity, and ruler-ship over the family. it had none of the other aspects of the Abrahamic covenant in that blessing (Gen 22:15-18), In verse four Isaac says straight out that this blessing is the blessing of Abraham, giving to him by God Almighty when he was on top of Mount Moriah, ready to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord. But just as Isaac, in my opinion, this blessing is still not confirmed until God Himself gives this blessing to Jacob (Which we will see happen in verse thirteen of this chapter). Rebekah’s concern for Jacob’s well being can now be laid to rest. Jacob will be far enough away from his brother Esau so that He cannot kill him like he said he would do after Isaac’s death. However this will be the last time Rebekah will ever see her son Jacob again. All of Rebekah and Jacob’s deception, in order to gain the blessings that God promised, have indeed made this promise come to fruition, but at what cost? Rebekah and Jacob will never see each other again, Jacob will have to leave the land of his fathers, and all his family behind. As we will see, Jacob will get a very bitter taste of his own medicine while living in Padan Aram by his uncle Laban. Also as we will see that Jacob will always be worried about returning home, because in his mind it will be sure death by the hands of his own brother Esau. If only Rebekah and Jacob would have just trusted in the Lord their lives would have been so different. Human nature has not changed since creation. We are willing to do whatever it takes to have the riches of the world, not considering who we have to hurt along the way, or the consequences of our actions. God will humble Jacob in the long run, but he has lessons to learn along the way (Pro 20:17).

Adam Clarke’s commentary: Bread of deceit is sweet – Property acquired by falsehood, speculation, etc., without labor, is pleasant to the unprincipled, slothful man; but there is a curse in it, and the issue will prove it.

Mathew Henry concise commentary: Wealth gotten by fraud may be sweet, for the carnal mind takes pleasure in the success of wicked devices; but it will be bitter in the reflection.

6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.
8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. vv. 1, 2; 27:46
9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Esau is in ear shot Of the conversation between Isaac and Jacob. Wanting to please his father, and hearing this conversation between Isaac and Jacob, Esau assumes, and rightfully so, that his father is not pleased that he has taken for himself wives of Canaan. Esau goes to the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael, son of Hagar, who was Sarah’s handmaid from Egypt, born of the flesh (I will explain that in a minute), thinking that this will please his father Isaac. Since Esau heard this conversation between Isaac and Jacob, then that also means that he hears the blessing of Abraham given to Jacob. This is “THE” blessing, unlike any blessings Isaac has given to either son in the past. This blessing is the one that God himself swore to Abraham by Himself, As He could swear by no other name that is in heaven or on earth (Heb 6:13-14), Esau most assuredly knows of the blessing of Abraham in which Isaac is speaking of hear. Even though it is not said, This must just tear him apart. Esau figures that if he marries someone who is in the bloodline if Abraham that maybe this would please his father enough, so as to get a better blessing than the one Isaac has already given him. (this is just my Opinion), I can confidently say that Esau is definitely looking for approval from his father. The problem as I stated earlier is that Ishmael is born of the flesh and not the promise. There is no way Isaac is going to approve of this marriage. We read in Galatians the explanation of what I mean by Ishmael being born of the flesh. (Gal 4:21-31, ERV), Esau’s marriage to Mahalath is representative of Hagar the slave woman, and therefore cannot be part of the promise God made to Abraham of the son, which is to be born of the free woman (Sarah), This marriage is basically meaningless in the eyes of the Lord and therefore also in the eyes if Isaac.

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set upon the earth, and it’s top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 13:15, 17; 26:24◊ 14 “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Heb. 13:5
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is the place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

Sometimes i come to passages that are hard for me to understand. I always pray and ask for God to bless my studies before I begin. There are times when I do this I still have difficulty in understanding. It doesn’t mean that God does not hear my prayers. On the contrary, He does but He also knows that at this point in my spiritual growth that i am still a babe, not yet weaned from the milk, and mature enough for the “Meat” of spiritual understanding. So God reveals His word to me in other ways. This is one of those times that His spirit directs me towards His truth, (Not by my own understanding) but by like minded people in His church, that have been in His word longer than me, and are in the “Meat” of understanding. As I was searching for an explanation of this dream of Jacob’s I started with all the well known commentaries. Only Mathews Henry Concise Commentary came close to making any sense, but He does not give a plausible explanation how he came to his conclusion (Which for me is very important that my commentaries be scripturally sound). So I went to my own Churches website, and typed in “Jacobs Ladder” in the search bar. Lo and behold I found what I was looking for. I found a three part sermon series given by an elder (David Nunn) of the Oklahoma city congregation, on Jacobs ladder. On a side note there is something I must mention here. Mr. Nunn just gave the first part of this sermon dated Feb 4th 2017, and published on our website March 27th 2017. looking back I find that I started my studies on this dream on or about March 25th 2017. As I stated earlier; when we draw close to God He draws closer to us, I think it is no coincidence the way things transpired. Blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Mr. Nunn’s sermon he concentrates a lot on the comparison of Jacob laying his head on a stone to sleep that night. It is very interesting the comparison he makes between the stone (which is made by man) and the Tower of Babel (built of bricks made by men), I recommend to anyone reading this to go to the link I am posting to hear this sermon, and from this first sermon you can navigate to the other two parts if interested: http://://www.ucg.org/sermons/jacobs-ladder-part-1-babel-versus-bethel, My concern however was wanting to know what the Ladder and the angels ascending and descending from heaven symbolized. so in my commentary here I will discuss the dream itself. In Mr. Nunn’s sermon he does give a good explanation on the symbolism of the ladder but not of the Angels. I wrote Mr. Nunn about the angels and he gave me two thoughts on the subject, the one train of thought he gave me is a very good starting point and one that makes sense to me, and I can reference other scriptures to back this up. I would like to say though, that Mr. Nunn only gave me a starting point in regards to the angels, and therefore he, nor my church had any input on my commentary here, and are not responsible for it’s content. I will start with the symbolism of the ladder and conclude with the angels descending, and ascending to Heaven. In John 14:6 Jesus Christ says that He is the way, the truth, and the light, and that no one comes to the Father but thru Him (John 14:6), in Jacob’s dream he see’s a ladder sitting upon the earth, that reached up into the heavens, and at the top of the ladder, standing above it was the Lord. So the ladder in this dream represents the only way for Jacob (Or anyone for that matter), to come to the Father. In a sense, Jacob himself acknowledges this truth in verse seventeen when he states that the place where he slept is the house of God, and the gate to heaven. Up to now, for most of the recorded history of Jacob, he has been revealed to us as a deceiver in order to gain the blessings from his father (Which in reality are blessings that come from God), As we have seen Jacob has relied on his own cunning to gain these riches, and blessings, instead of trusting in the Lord. In the new Testament we are told of a story in Acts where such a man like Jacob tried to buy his way into receiving God’s blessing of the Holy Spirit, and he was rebuked by Peter (Acts 8:18-21), in Jacob’s instance it is not money, but deceit that he is using to gain the blessings of God. At this point in Jacob’s life, just as in Simon’s, his heart is not right in the sight of the Lord, and he has no part in Him. Jacob is beginning a long journey, he has left everything he holds near and dear to him behind. In this journey Jacob will indeed one day (After God has humbled him), get his heart right with the Lord (John 1:47), Let me begin with my hypothesis of verse twelve, and end with my opinion on what these angels symbolize in Jacob’s dream. Just a reminder to the reader; it was Mr. Nunn, whom I believe, led by God’s Spirit, helped me to understand this dream. however I want to emphasize that this is my opinion, and mine only. First lets start with the Strong’s Hebrew definition of Angel:

Strongs: (H4397): מַלְאָךְ
mal’âk
mal-awk’
From an unused root meaning to despatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of God, that is, an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher): – ambassador, angel, king, messenger.

The scriptures confirm that they are both messengers and ministering spirits (Compare Heb 1:13-14, Ps 104:1-4), in Genesis chapter nineteen we read where two angels descended from heaven as messengers/Witnesses, and ministered to Lot(Rescuing him and his family from the destruction of Sodom), afterwards they ascended back to heaven having fulfilled their mission, or, if you will? their ministry (Gen 19:15), When God sent His angels to witness against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, they were also sent to Fulfill God’s promise He made to Abraham: that He would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. They also were sent as messengers to Lot, to warn him of the destruction to come. Here we see the angels were sent as both messengers and ministers of God, for Lot and his family. Then in the book of Psalms we read a prophecy of angels coming to minister to our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Ps 91:11-12), in the book of Mathew as well as the book of Mark we see our Lord Jesus Christ quoting this Psalm (Matt 4:5-11), in John chapter one we read basically the same description of angels ascending and descending, but this time the scriptures say that these angels are ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. In this Genesis account, the ladder symbolizing Jesus Christ, has the angels ascending and descending upon it (The ladder).

Joh 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

John 1:51 could be referencing the time of the Lords second coming as we see described in both Matthew 25:31, and Mark 8:38. Then in Luke chapter twenty eight we read that while Jesus was praying the night before His crucifixion that and angel appeared from heaven to strengthen him (Luke 22:41-43), now that I have broken down my hypothesis of the angels I would like to give my opinion on the matter. As we have read in Psalms ninety one angels are ministering spirits that help guide man in their life here on earth, so that we do not walk in the way of Satan, but in the way of the Spirit. I believe we all have angels that God has given charge over us, to protect us from danger, to lead us to that narrow gate, and to also strengthen us when we are weak, but the angels can do nothing without first consulting with God, I believe the angels descend and ascend from heaven (Maybe not necessarily in that order) with instructions from God; as in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, once after being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and then at the garden of Gethsemane right before his crucifixion. In verse fifteen God tells Jacob that He will be with him wherever he goes. The angels Jacob see ascending and descending from heaven in my opinion are the angels that God will put in charge over him to protect him lest he may cast his foot upon a stone as it is written in Psalms 91:11, 12. in chapter thirty two of Genesis, when Jacob returns from Padan-Aram we are told that angels met him along the way. All that is written about this meeting is what Jacob said when he saw the angels. there is no mention if the angels spoke to him. I believe God sent these angels to meet Jacob as a reminder of God’s promise to be with him wherever he should go, and to show Jacob that these angels, and the ones he saw in his dream ascending and descending from heaven, were a fulfillment of that promise, whom God put charge over him, and keep him in all his ways, whither ever he should go. The last thing I would like to discuss here is verse’s thirteen and fourteen. As I proposed the question earlier in chapter twenty seven, and here in verses three thru five I stated, the Abrahamic covenant God made in regards to the promised seed has to have God’s blessing put on it in order for Jacob to receive this special blessing. Even though Isaac had passed this special blessing on to Jacob (Just as Abraham passed it down to his son Isaac), it is not confirmed until God put’s His stamp of approval on it (If you will), Then just like the Ten commandments of God it is “etched in stone” (As the saying goes),the stones made of God and not of men.

18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city had been Luz previously.

As I had mentioned earlier in this chapter, I was so intrigued by the dream of Jacobs that I completely overlooked these two verses and the symbolism of the stone Jacob laid his head on that night to sleep. It wasn’t until I listened to the sermon by Mr. Nunn that the scales were peeled from my eyes and I could see the significance of the pillar of stone. Mr. Nunn made pretty much a whole sermon about this pillar of stone (Which I already referenced), for my purposes here I will just give a brief summary of Mr. Nunn s interpretation. The Pillar of stone is a symbol of God’s creation, man did not make this stone, compared to bricks made by men, of clay and straw, as was the case of the Tower of Babel. By Jacob anointing this stone and calling this place house of God (built with stone), not made of men, is in contrast to what Nimrod was doing at the tower of Babel. In the case of the Tower of Babel the people were trying to build a pillar (Made by men, of bricks, of clay and straw) that reached into the heavens and therefore they could gain access to God. In Jacobs dream the ladder is the gate to heaven, the ladder symbolizing our Lord Jesus Christ, and the tower of Babel representing man trying to create for themselves there own access to God. so these two comparisons as to how man can gain access to God are in direct conflict with each other. One way is spiritual (the ladder), no one comes to the father, but by Jesus Christ (John 14:6), The Tower of Babel is mans way of circumventing this truth, which is the way of Satan. I will just leave it at that. As I recommended earlier, Mr. Nunn explains it so much better than I do and goes into great detail, which I don’t have the room for in this format. However I would like to address the stone that Jacob made a pillar of and poured oil on it, and I would like to do so by quoting Adam Clarke, in his commentary on the subject: Adam Clarke’s commentary: And Jacob – took the stone – and set it up for a pillar – He placed the stone in an erect posture, that it might stand as a monument of the extraordinary vision which he had in this place; and he poured oil upon it, thereby consecrating it to God, so that it might be considered an altar on which libations might be poured, and sacrifices offered unto God.

20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,
21 “So that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” Lev. 27:30, 32

God is calling Jacob, but Jacob is not yet ready to accept his invitation. He is bargaining with God saying to Him, “IF” if you do this and that, then you will be my God. The Journey Jacob is on, is not much different than the journey we as believers go through in our own lives. We try to do everything on our own, trusting in our own abilities to get ahead in life. Then one day, when we come to a point in our life, something in our head tells us that there has to be more to life than this. That something is God’s spirit calling us (Just like God is calling Jacob), God gives us an invitation, but we must chose to answer that call.

Genesis-chapter 27

27

1 Now it came to pass, When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, That he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.” 48:10
2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 35:28; James 4:14

If we go forward to chapter 35 we read that Isaac lived to be 180 years of age. But also in that same chapter we read that his son Jacob had already come back from Padan-aram, and has had all twelve of his sons when Isaac died. We know also that Jacob lived in Padan-aram for twenty years according to Gen 31:28. So then we can surmise that Isaac had to be well over 100 years of age when he lost sight, and wanted to Give Esau a blessing.

3 “Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.
4 “And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, That my soul may bless you before I die.” 25:27, 28

Now the blessing that Isaac wants to give Esau is not the covenant blessing the Lord gave to Abraham and handed down to him, (As far as the seed in which all nations shall be blessed thru the Lord Jesus Christ). As we will read in verses 27-29, where Jacob deceives his father into getting Esau’s blessing, and also in verses 39, and 40, where Esau gets a smaller blessing than Jacob, there is never a mention of the Abrahamic covenant. If we look at the BDB definition of the word bless, (As defined in the BDB definition), it is a description of the ritual of the actual blessing. So I have included both definitions of Bless, and also of Blessing, in these verses we will see that the blessings Isaac gives to his sons are in agreement with the BDB definition:

Blessing: (H1293): בּרכה : berâkâh
BDB Definition:
1) blessing
2) (source of) blessing
3) blessing, prosperity
4) blessing, praise of God
5) a gift, present
6) treaty of peace

Bless: (H1288): בּרך: bârak
BDB Definition:
1) to bless, kneel
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to kneel
1a2) to bless
1b) (Niphal) to be blessed, bless oneself
1c) (Piel) to bless
1d) (Pual) to be blessed, be adored
1e) (Hiphil) to cause to kneel
1f) (Hithpael) to bless oneself
2) (TWOT) to praise, salute, curse

In the passing down of the Abrahamic covenant, to which all nations will be blessed (Thru our Lord Jesus Christ) it is the birthright (Not the blessing), in which this covenant is handed down. I would like to quote from Adams Clarke’s commentary on Genesis 25:31 to help explain what I mean here:

Sell me this day thy birthright – What the בחרה bechorah or birthright was, has greatly divided both ancient and modern commentators. It is generally supposed that the following rights were attached to the primogeniture:
1. Authority and superiority over the rest of the family.
2. A double portion of the paternal inheritance.
3. The peculiar benediction of the father.
4. The priesthood, previous to its establishment in the family of Aaron.
Calmet controverts most of these rights, and with apparent reason, and seems to think that the double portion of the paternal inheritance was the only incontestable right which the first-born possessed; the others were such as were rather conceded to the first-born, than fixed by any law in the family. However this may be, it appears,
1. That the first-born were peculiarly consecrated to God, Exo 22:29.
2. Were next in honor to their parents, Gen 49:3.
3. Had a double portion of their father’s goods, Deu 21:17.
4. Succeeded him in the government of the family or kingdom, 2 Ch 21:3.
5. Had the sole right of conducting the service of God, both at the tabernacle and temple; and hence the tribe of Levi, which was taken in lieu of the first-born, had the sole right of administration in the service of God, Num 8:14-18; and hence we may presume, had originally a right to the priesthood previous to the giving of the law; but however this might have been, afterwards the priesthood is never reckoned among the privileges of the first-born.
That the birthright was a matter of very great importance, there can be no room to doubt; and that it was a transferable property, the transaction here sufficiently proves.

By this commentary we can see that part of the birthright includes a line of priesthood before the establishment of the Levites, and whichever way of thinking as to what the birthright represents, they both still point to a priesthood being handed down. In the New Testament we read that the Lord Jesus Christ is the priest of the new covenant, and will be forever more, doing away with the priesthood of the old testament, which is the basis of the Abrahamic covenant. There are many passages in the New testament that talk about this priesthood and our Lord Jesus Christ. I would like to quote a few passages from the New Testament which talks about the priesthood and the correlation of Jesus Christ (Compare Heb 2:16-17, 4:14-15, 5:1-10), one little nugget I would like to share here in regards to verse four is that in Gen 25:28 we read here that Isaac loved
Esau because of the game he hunted, and that Rebekah loved Jacob. Esau is his Fathers son in a sense, and Jacob is most definitely his mothers son. I will talk more about this in the coming verses.

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
6 So Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
7 ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’

In my opinion, Rebekah is the one who conjures up this deception against her husband Isaac. She is the main instigator here and she is the one who comes up with the idea of stealing the blessing away from her son Esau. I want to point out here that Rebekah is the sister of Laban, these are the grandchildren of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. We have already caught a glimpse into the character of Laban when Abraham’s servant went to the land of Haran to find a wife for his son Isaac (Rebekah). In chapter 29 we will see the true character come out in Laban, he is also a deceiver and manipulator, just as his Sister Rebekah is, and this is also the character of Jacob in his earlier years. As the say the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. In verse seven Rebekah tells Jacob that she heard Isaac say he was going to bless Esau; “In the presence of the Lord” Isaac never said he would bless Esau in the presence of the Lord. Isaac merely said that he would bless Esau before he died. So it appears to me that Rebekah is not only practicing deceit among Isaac, but also of Jacob in order to make it appear that this is not just any blessing but a special blessing that includes the presence of God and, if you will His approval. Jacob, being the person that he is at this point in time in his life would be more apt to listen to his mom if he felt that this was indeed a special blessing, unlike most.

8 “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. vv. 13:43

Verse eight to me is very revealing as to the relationship between Rebekah and Jacob. Rebekah tells Jacob: “Obey my voice as I command you” now I don’t say this out of disrespect for Jacob, but he is truly his mothers son; after all we read back in chapter 25:27-28 that Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah loved Jacob. In the same verses we also see that Jacob dwelt in the tents. These verses tell me that Jacob spent most of his time with his mother growing up, and they developed a special bond with each other; not to mention the fact that the Lord spoke to Rebekah and told her that Jacob being the youngest, would be stronger than Esau the oldest, and that the older son would serve the younger son (Gen 25:22-23), nowhere in these verses does God mention to Rebekah of the covenant between Abraham and The Lord, (In regards to the passing down of the Spiritual promised seed, in which all nations would be blessed), Although not scriptural, I would tend to think that as Jacob was growing up Rebekah told him about her encounter with the Lord, and what He promised her as to his fate.
So Rebekah had this hold on Jacob, and when she says to him, “Obey my voice and do as I command” He feels obligated to listen to her. Now like I said earlier: I don’t mean no disrespect towards Jacob by saying that he is his mothers son, there is nothing wrong with having that type of bonding with your mother be it son or Daughter. We are told in the scriptures to honor our parents (It is the 5th commandment). However Jacob does not get a free pass here either, we should honor our parents, but when they tell us to do something immoral, in this case dishonoring the father by deceiving him, then we should Obey God rather than men, or in this case women.

9 “Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, And I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.
10 “Then you shall take it to your father, that he mat eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”

This is where Rebekah falters; she could have gone to inquire of the Lord about His promise to her; regarding the fate of her two sons. She has gone to the Lord before while the children wrestled in her womb and the Lord comforted her then. Instead she decides to take matters into her own hands this time and not trust in Him. I believe that if Rebekah had gone to inquire of the Lord He would have answered her, and she would not have had to stoop to deception to bring about what the Lord had already promised her. If anything I think the lesson we should learn from this story is that if we just call on the Lord, and come to Him with a humbling attitude, and trust in Him, He is just, and righteous to pull us thru whatever ordeal we may be going thru. As I have come to realize in my studies of the Genesis account, and I repeat this saying all the time ever since I first really understood this statement by Abraham at Mount Moriah: “THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.” We should all have the faith of Abraham during our times of trials. Hindsight being 20-20 it is easy to say this as I read this chapter, but hey!! this is what being in Gods word is all about. All doctrine is for reproof, rebuke (2 Ti 3:14-17), so let me be clear here I am not judging Rebekah for her misgivings, for that is not my place. I am just one man trying to draw close to my Father above, and understand His ways so that I may be perfected, and thoroughly furnished to every good work. Right now, at this very moment in my life, this is what I have come to understand God is telling me in these verses.

11 And Jacob said to his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth skinned man. 25:25
12 “Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” vv. 8, 43
14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved.

As I stated my opinion earlier: I believe growing up, Rebekah had told Jacob of what the Lord said to her about his destiny. Again I want to reiterate that I am commenting on my opinion here and this is not scriptural. No where do we read Rebekah ever told Jacob of the Lords plan regarding him. With this in mind, Jacob could had said something like this to his mother, “Mom we don’t need to do this, it is only a blessing that father is giving to Esau, Esau already sold his birthright to me, and the Lord told you that I would be the stronger of the two, and would be master over him. I do not wish that my brother not be prosperous, and not live in peace. Let Esau have his blessing, wont father also bless me as well in due time? But he does nothing of the sort, for two reasons I believe: number one, as I stated earlier, Rebekah has a strong hold over Jacob, and number two, selfishness, and greed are in Jacobs heart at this point in his life. Jacob still has yet come to the point of his life to call on the Lord. It is not until years later that Jacob fully submits himself to God and turns his life over to Him. I say this because in verse 27 Jacob calls the Lord “Your God” to Isaac, to me this is very telling of where Jacobs heart is at this time. Also, as we read in Genesis 28:20-21 we see that Jacob makes a stipulation to God saying, if you do this for me then YOU! Will be my God. It appears this is what Jacob is doing with his own mother in these verses. Jacob is concerned about his own well being. He is afraid that a curse will be put on him if his father finds out about his deception, but once Rebekah says “Let your curse be on me,” Jacob is like, “okay then as long as it is on
you I have no problem” as if he could care less about the welfare of his mom if he is caught. Kind of sad when you think about it. One problem though The Lord God is all knowing and all seeing, there is no hiding from, or deceiving Him. Jacob will get his up-comings, and he will reap what he has sown. But he will be a better man for it in the long run. Sometimes we have to be knocked upside the head in order for God to get
our attention, and some of us even more than once. I sure know I had to be.

15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And she put the skins on the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

Like I I said earlier; Rebekah is the main instigator here. She prepares everything for Jacob to carry out this deception. She even cooks the savory food that Isaac asked Esau to bring for the blessing. Kind of funny though if you think about it, she is cooking her own goose as the saying goes, and she will not go unpunished for her part.

18 So he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” v. 4

I stated previously that Isaac is well over a hundred years old by this time. He has lost his eyesight and does not recognize who it is that is in the room. Seeing that Isaac can’t recognize him, or even distinguish between the two voices of him and his brother Esau, Jacob goes on to tell Isaac that he is Esau his firstborn, and that he is ready for his blessing on him.

20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” v. 12

Isaac may have lost his sight and even his sense of hearing, but he has not lost his wits about himself. Before he gives his blessing he wants to make sure that he is given it to the rightful person. So he ask Jacob to come closer so as to feel his skin. We were told earlier that Esau was a hairy man. Also Isaac, I believe knows the character of his son Jacob, and wouldn’t put it past him to steal his brothers blessing like he did with the birthright. Again I must say that we are never told in the scriptures that Rebekah ever told Isaac of the prophecy that the Lord gave her when they were still in the womb. But in my opinion I believe that she probably did tell him, why would she hold this back from Isaac? There is no reason to. By this time i’m sure Rebekah knows all about Abraham, his relationship with God, and the covenant between them. Knowing this, wouldn’t she want to tell Isaac what God said to her in order for this covenant to be passed down to the rightful son? Now I am saying this because Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau know the difference between given a blessing and the birthright of the firstborn. One is spiritual in nature while the other is worldly. As we read on we will see the difference between the blessings Isaac gives to Jacob, and Esau, and the passing down of the birthright later on.

22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. vv. 15, 16
24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.”

Obviously Isaac is confused. On the one hand (No pun intended) Jacobs hands feel like that of Esau, but the voice is of Jacob. Then in verse twenty four Isaac questions Jacob point blank: “Are you really my son Esau,” and all Jacob says is I am.

27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

After all this inquiry, and also eating the game, Isaac has one more test. So he ask Jacob to come near so as to get a scent of his son to make sure it is Esau.

“Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the Lord has blessed.
28 Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let people serve you
And nations bow down to
you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons
bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who
curses you,
And bless be those who
bless you!” 12:2, 3; Heb. 22:29

So then how do I reconcile all this together if Isaac knows of the promise made to Rebekah, and He gives this blessing to Esau that would go against the will of God, in which we can say Isaac is blameless in all of this? Line upon line, precept upon precept. I myself find the answer to this question in Hebrews:

Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

FAITH!! It’s all about faith. Isaac, the son of the father of faith. Abraham has taught him well, and Isaac has learned well. Isaac cannot trust his own judgment, but he has learned to have faith in the Lord, and trust in Him. Something that both Rebekah and Jacob lacked. I would recommend reading all of Hebrews eleven in regards to faith and what it is all about:

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

At the beginning of this chapter I gave the Hebrew definitions of both a blessing, and the birthright. When we look carefully of the blessing Isaac just gave, we can see that it is not the birthright that is being given here. This blessing is one of prosperity, and authority over the family. This blessing is not the birthright blessing as defined in Adam Clarke’s commentary I quoted earlier. The blessing given here is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Rebekah when she went to inquire of the Lord, in regards to the children while they were still in her womb. No where in this blessing does Isaac evoke Abraham’s name or the covenant God made with him on Mount Moriah of not only the promised seed, but also the inheritance of the land in which he is a stranger in,(The land of Canaan), and to be fruitful and multiply, to become a multitude of peoples. We don’t see this birthright given to Jacob until the beginning of Gen 28:3-4. I want to go back to chapter 22 of Genesis to clarify the Abrahamic covenant:

Gen 22:15 And the Angel of Jehovah called to Abraham out of the heavens the second time,
Gen 22:16 and said, I have sworn by Myself, says Jehovah; because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one;
Gen 22:17 that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies.
Gen 22:18 And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

This is the birthright that Esau sold to Jacob, which he despised (Gen 25:34), I would like to share my opinion, or should a say propose a thought;? Who has the right to pass down the Abrahamic Covenant to their children? Is it the Father of the flesh, or our heavenly Father above? Let me explain: During Abraham’s time it is written that Abraham wanted to pass down this covenant to Ishmael (His son from Hagar), but God made it very clear that the covenant would be thru the son of Sarah,) Abraham’s wife), then if we jump ahead to the beginning of chapter 28, first we read that Isaac passes this covenant down to Jacob, but then just a few verses later we read that it is God Himself who confirms this covenant with Jacob. In my humble opinion I would tend to lean towards the latter.

30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, That Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.” v. 4
32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him-and indeed he shall be blessed.” 25:23

According to the first verse, it’s as if Jacob and Esau cross paths as one enters the tent of Isaac and the other is leaving. Esau hasn’t a clue as to what just transpired. He brings the game he has caught, and prepared it for his father so that Isaac may eat of it and Bless him. Upon finding out that Esau was not the one who Isaac just blessed he is shaken by what just happened and becomes fearful. Isaac is not fearful because of a lack of faith in God, by blessing the wrong son he intended to bless, it is because he is afraid of having to tell Esau that Jacob has stolen his blessing, being afraid of what Esau might do to his brother.

34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me-me also, O my father!” Heb. 12:17
35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”
36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 25:26, 29-34

Esau has already lost his birthright years earlier (which God says he despised), and now he has lost the last inheritance, that he as the firstborn is usually entitled to. We are told that Esau cried out an exceedingly bitter cry. This is a cruel type of cry; one that cuts right to the bone, one that has left a bad taste in his mouth, if you will? Or should I say a hard pill to swallow. Esau is practically begging for a blessing from his father. I feel Isaac is intimidated so much by how Esau is acting, that he shifts all the blame on Jacob by telling Esau that his brother deceived him into the blessing. Esau responds by telling his father that Jacob has lived up to his name: “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” the name Jacob means supplanter, meaning to take the place of something by force or trickery; which is exactly what Jacob did in this particular blessing. In my opinion, Jacob did not deceive Esau into his birthright, Esau willingly sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew, there was no deception. So Esau asks once again for his father to bless him.

37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

As far as Isaac is concerned, it is all in Gods hands now, and even though Esau was the one to get the blessing Jacob received, Isaac puts his faith in God in regards to this matter and he tells Esau straight out, Jacob will be master over you, and you will serve him. Isaac is saying to Esau,”There is nothing I can do to change this, so what do you want from me?”

38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me-me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Heb. 12:17

Esau is bound and determined to be blessed from his father, and he will not leave until he is given some kind of blessing.

39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: Heb. 11:20
Behold, your dwelling shall be
of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of the heaven
from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your
brother;
And it shall come to pass,
when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke
from your neck.” v. 29; 25:23

I have always been told not to make my commentaries too long because people will lose interest after about 3-5 minutes, but I think it is very important to fully explain this blessing given to Esau, because I believe it will help people to understand the bitterness between the Palestinian people and the Israelis. Also I hope that at the same time I will be able to show people that we can know God is real, and He exist thru His prophets, who were inspired by God to tell of the things not yet seen but fulfilled again and again throughout time. Let there be no doubt in this blessing, Isaac is also prophesying of future events for the Descendants of Esau. So let me go ahead now and explain this blessing in greater detail.
This blessing Isaac gives to Esau is not one that Esau had in mind, because in it there is some good, and some bad, to me there are both blessings and curses given here. The curses here reinforces the fact that Esau will indeed serve his brother, not just that, but Esau will live by the sword; meaning there will be constant strife in his life. Also, in my opinion Isaac tells Esau that until he ceases from being bitter (Restless), towards his brother, for what Jacob has done to him, he will have this yoke around his neck that is guiding his every move and thought. The yoke being talked about in this verse is a simile; referring to a piece of wood that is placed around an ox’s neck so as to confine the ox from going about on its own. This yoke can also be a seen as a form of bondage or slavery. In my opinion again, Esau is a slave to the bitterness he feels towards his brother. Not until Esau can come to grips with what his brother has done to him, will he break this yoke from his neck. And as we will read in Gen 33 Esau does in fact embrace his brother and forgives him, and breaks that yoke from his neck. But the descendants of Esau are not as forgiving, therefore in my opinion this blessing or as I like to call it this Prophecy is a twofold prophecy as most prophecies are. The first part being fulfilled when Esau forgives his brother in chapter thirty three.
In Gen 25 it is written that Esau is Edom, meaning his descendants are called the Edomites, and later called Idumeans by the Greeks. I will elaborate more about the Idumeans later on. Throughout the history of the Israeli’s and the Edomites of the Old Testament, we read in many books where they were constantly battling each other. In my opinion; never more in history has two people ever hated and fought each other as much as the Edomites and The Israelis have. Before I go on I want to emphasize the fact that Jacob and Esau are brothers. I say this because as I will show; In Gods eyes, the descendants of Edom, and Jacob (Also known as Israel), are considered brothers. In the book of Numbers, during the time of the exodus, when the Israeli’s are heading to the promised land they have to cross the land of the Edomites in order to get there. Moses calls on the king of Edom and says to him, “Your brother Israel” (Num 20:14-21), Notice in verse fourteen that Moses tells his messenger to tell the king of Edom, “So says your “brother” in the rest of these verses we read where the Edomites come out against the Israeli’s with a sword and many mighty men to stop them from passing through their land.

2Sa 8:13 And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking the Syrians in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand men.
2Sa 8:14 And he put garrisons in Edom. He put garrisons throughout all Edom, and all the men of Edom became David’s servants. And Jehovah preserved David wherever he went.

Just as the blessing said, and as God foretold Rebekah while Esau, and Jacob were still in the womb; The descendants of Esau became servants to the descendants of Jacob. During the reign of king David the Edomites were servants to the Israeli kingdom.

1Ki 11:14 And it happened Jehovah stirred up a foe to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the king’s seed in Edom.
1Ki 11:15 For it happened when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, after he had stricken every male in Edom-
1Ki 11:16 for Joab remained there six months with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom–
1Ki 11:17 it happened that Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go to Egypt, Hadad being still a little child.

We can read in the book of the prophets how when Judah was taken into captivity by the Babylonians, that the Edomites rejoiced, and they went in themselves and plundered from the houses of Judah, Many of the Edomites at this time also went into the land of Judah and dwelt there. Even after the Judeans came back from captivity, the Edomites fought against them, and the Edomites never left the land of Judah even unto this day. The prophet Obadiah lived either shortly before or during the time of the Babylonian captivity of Judah, i’m inclined to lean towards the latter. It is during this time that the Lord tells Obadiah to prophesy against the Edomites for their transgressions against the Israeli nation, and the tribe of Judah. Here is where you will notice a couple times that God considers these two people as brothers, and He also correlates Edom with Esau. As a father, who wouldn’t be angry with his older son, if he mistreated his younger brother over and over, time after time, and taught their sons to do the same? So we must look at this prophecy thru the eyes of God as He sees Edom, and how He sees the Palestinian people of today, doing the same thing: teaching their children in school, generation, after generation, to kill the Israelis wherever they see them; I will show how the Palestinian’s fit into this prophecy in a moment. I would invite anyone who reads this, to study the prophecy of Obadiah (Oba 1) It only has one chapter, compare it to the blessing given by Isaac to Esau. As I have shown thus far, according to the Bible, the Edomites and the Israeli’s have been in constant battles throughout time. Most scholars, would agree as to the history of the Edomite people, their origin and who they are, as a people today, so this is not just me talking here. All anyone has to do is go to Google search, and type in “The history of the Edomites”
After the Babylonians defeated Judah in the 6th century BC (In which the Edomites had a hand in), and led the southern Kingdom of Judah into exile to Babylon. The Edomites settled in Hebron. It wasn’t too long after that though that the Babylonians eventually conquered the Edomites. After the loss of their kingdom they were pushed westward toward Judah by nomadic tribes from the east. They then lived south towards Beersheba and in the Negev Desert. So as you can see the Edomites lived in the country of Modern day Jordan, but then, taken advantage of the exile of the southern kingdom of Judah they migrated into Judah. hieroglyphs in Egypt described the Edomites as Aduma (Which translates into Edom). As we can then see, the Edomites and the southern kingdom of Judah have co-mingled with each other for centuries, always as bitter rivals. The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BC Ancient Greece, when Herodotus wrote of a ‘district of Syria, called Palaistinê” as you can see though this term was not used to describe any kind of people, or culture, but only a territory. The same can be said When the Romans conquered Judah they changed the name of the land to Palestine. Not because they were identifying a certain people, but to oppress, and punish the Jewish state.
My conclusion is this: In my humble opinion, the People who call themselves Palestinians, are descendants of the tribe of Edom; sons of Esau. This is the twofold prophecy I was talking about in the beginning. Think about it, the way these people act towards one another, the deep hatred of the Israeli nation by the Palestinians, the Palestinians basically being ruled by the Israeli state, is just like the Blessing (Or as I call it the curse), Isaac gave to Esau centuries ago. This explains why things are the way they are between these two people, or should we say two brothers? It is a family feud that has been going on since the birth of these two brothers, and won’t be settled until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many may say that Jacob stole both the birthright, and the blessing from Esau, and there may be some truth to that, but Jacob also had to earn the birthright and the blessings of Abraham before God gives it to him. But we must remember this one true fact: before they were born, while they were still in the womb, God said this would be. So as I have said once before: it is Divine providence. God, being the Almighty Creator of all things, reserves the right to do all His pleasure, and His purpose will stand (Compare Isa 46:9-13, 55:10-11).

41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “the days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 35:29; Obad. 18-20

As I said earlier this blessing seemed more like a curse. Esau is not at all happy with this blessing from his father Isaac. For now though, Esau will bide is time until after his father has passed, out of respect for his father, and also, I believe, out of fear what his father might do if Esau killed Jacob.

42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you.

In verse forty one God tells us that “Esau said in his heart” he will not kill Jacob until after the death of his father Isaac. Here in verse forty two the Lord tells us that someone told Rebekah of Esau’s plans concerning Jacob. The point I am trying to make is that in verse forty one God is looking inside Esau, (at his heart), For He knows the hearts of men. So when God says “Esau said in his heart” it does not mean that he never said aloud that he would kill Jacob. We know this to be true because we read in this verse that someone told Rebekah of Esau’s intentions. We (Mankind) may be able to hide our wickedness, and our evil intentions from men, but we cannot hide them from God. God is all knowing, and one day we will all have to stand before Him, and He will hold us accountable for our evil ways, if we do not repent of our sins, confess our sins, and ask for His forgiveness of them. If we do this, then God is just, true and righteous to forgive us, and blot them out of His mind forever (1 Jn 1:8-9).

43 “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 24:29; 28:2, 5
44 “And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,
45 “until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; the I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

Out of fear for her sons life Rebekah tells Jacob, “Obey my voice” Rebekah tells Jacob to go to her brother Laban who lives in Haran. Rebekah thinks that Jacob will only be gone for a few days, but as we will find out, it will be years before Jacob returns. As a matter of fact, it will be the last time she will ever see her son Jacob again. If we remember earlier in this chapter, when Rebekah is plotting this deception against Isaac, she tells Jacob, “Let your curse be on me” if you (Jacob), get caught by your father deceiving him. In my opinion, even though Jacob was not caught deceiving his father, she was still cursed by God for her deception, in that she will never see her son Jacob again.
When Rebekah ask the question “Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?” In my opinion Rebekah is probably speaking of God’s law about the shedding of mans blood (Gen 9:5-6), If Esau were to kill Jacob, by God’s own law Esau would also have to be put to death, and it may even be by the hands of Isaac himself who would have to kill him. I say this because of the laws God handed down to Moses during the exodus, in which the Lord had to remind the Israeli’s of, because they have lived in Egypt for so long that they had completely forgotten these laws (Num 35:15-21).

Revenger: (H1350): גּאל : gâ’al
BDB Definition:
1) to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin, act as kinsman-redeemer
1a1a) by marrying brother’s widow to beget a child for him, to redeem from slavery, to redeem land, to exact vengeance
1a2) to redeem (by payment)
1a3) to redeem (with God as subject)
1a3a) individuals from death
1a3b) Israel from Egyptian bondage
1a3c) Israel from exile
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to redeem oneself
1b2) to be redeemed

It would be the next of kin who would extract revenge against
the murderer. This is why I say that it might have well been that Isaac himself would have to kill his own son Esau if he had killed Jacob.

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?” 23:3, 28:8, 9

It was back at the end of chapter twenty six where we were first told of how Rebekah, and Isaac were grievous over the fact that Esau had married two Hittite women from the sons of Heth. Rebekah is concerned that if Jacob were to also marry women from the sons of Heth, her life would be meaningless after all she has done. So she appeals to Isaac, knowing that he to shares the same concern. Always plotting, I believe by reminding Isaac of this, she hopes that Isaac will instruct Jacob to marry someone from her family, just as Isaac did, as well as Abraham. If we look back we see that all three patriarchs married within the descendants of Terah, who is the patriarch of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, and as we will see also of both Leah, and Rachel. Now I must remind the reader that God is Holy, the promised seed of the covenant that God made with Abraham must be of a pure bloodline, undefiled, and Holy in and of itself. If one was to trace the family tree of Abraham all the way to the promised seed (Jesus Christ), they would see that this bloodline remains intact, undefiled, and Holy.

Genesis-chapter 26

26

1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. 12:10

From the accounts of Genesis 25 Isaac dwelt in Beer-Lahairoi after the death of Abraham. Therefore I am concluding that the famine talked about here was in this area (Which is south of the land of Gerar). If we look at the Strong’s definition of Abimelech, one definition says that this name could just be a title that was giving to all the kings of the Philistines, because we see that there is another king Abimelech in the time of king David. we also see in verse 26 of this chapter a man named Phichol who is described as the commander of the army. Again back in chapter 21 Phichol is mentioned along with king Abimelech as also being the commander of the army for king Abimelech. So then Phichol could also be a title given to the commander of the army and not the person s name. Many years have passed since Genesis 21 and Genesis 26. if these were the same men described in both chapters that would make these men well over a hundred years old during the time of Isaac s life. This then makes it more plausible that king Abimelech and Phichol are two different people from Genesis chapter 21.

2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 12:1

Apparently Isaac was contemplating going to Egypt to escape the famine. The Lord appeared to him and stopped him in his tracks, and told him (I’m paraphrasing here), not to go the way of his father during the famine of his time, but to go where God will tell him.

3 “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 12:1-3; 13: 14, 15

◊4 “And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

God tells Isaac to dwell in the land of Gerar. Undoubtedly Isaac is aware of the covenant God made with his father Abraham. The Lord is now reaffirming this covenant to Isaac, as He swore He would do. To be clear here, the seed that is being talked about here is the seed passed down from generation to generation until we get to our Lord Jesus Christ. Thru Him all nations have been blessed by His sacrifice on the cross, which washed away all our sins and reconciled us to the Father above (for those who believe). Gen 17:20-21, 22:15-18.

5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” 22: 15-18

Most churches in today s world believe that God laws were done away with, as they say: “They were nailed at the cross” and these same people are usually talking about the laws given to Moses on mount Sinai which can be read in the book of Exodus. It is misunderstood that the law was first given by God during the exodus from Egypt number one, and secondly that they were meant for the Hebrew nation only. Nothing can be further from the truth in both regards, and this verse proves that God s laws and commandments were well established before there was even a Hebrew nation. But this isn’t the earliest recording of scriptures where we read that there were laws: moral laws, as well as sacrificial, sanitary and spiritual laws before the time of Abraham. We can go back to the time of Creation and the garden to find these laws already established, but before I do this I would like to emphasize what I previously said: there are different types of laws that have a very significant distinction when it comes to what laws we still keep, and what laws were “Nailed to the cross” you have the sacrificial laws, the moral laws, and the spiritual laws. The sacrificial laws are those of animal sacrifices, for different reasons or another. It is these sacrificial laws that are the only laws which were “Nailed to the cross” For Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, who died once for all sins, “Slain since the foundation of the world:

Rev.13:8 And all dwelling on the earth will worship it, those whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world.

You can read more about this in Hebrews 9-10, where Paul speaks of the sacrificial laws being done away with. Nowhere does Paul state that any other laws were done away with at the cross, such as the spiritual laws and the big ten: the Ten Commandments. Or even the moral laws which the civilized world still lives by to this day. When Cain murdered his brother Abel we see God punishing Cain for the act of murder, hence a moral law, and one of the Ten Commandments of God being established (Gen 4:11-14), then, after Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we see a sacrifice had to be given (the shedding of blood) for sin (An animal sacrifice):

Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Then there is the spiritual laws where again we find these laws being established at the time of creation:

Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Seasons: (H4150): מועדה / מעד / מועד: mô‛êd / mô‛êd / mô‛âdâh
BDB Definition:
1) appointed place, appointed time, meeting
1a) appointed time
1a1) appointed time (general)
1a2) sacred season, set feast, appointed season
1b) appointed meeting
1c) appointed place
1d) appointed sign or signal
1e) tent of meeting

Again when we look at the Hebrew definition of seasons and
we see that it is defined as an “appointed time, a set feast.”
What are these feast that God said the lights in the heavens
are for? You can read about these set feast in Leviticus 23.
They are God s (Not Man s nor Jewish) Holy days, and they
are also considered Sabbath s of the Lord as you can read in
the beginning of Leviticus 23. These are spiritual laws
Given by God Almighty who created the heavens above. All
These Feast point to Jesus Christ, and Gods plan for
salvation for all mankind, and are still in effect today,
excluding the animal sacrifices which were indeed “Nailed at
the cross” Also we see where one of the Ten Commandments
was established at the time of creation, and that is the
Sabbath itself (Compare Gen 2:3, 20:8-11), God sanctified the Sabbath day. If we look at the Strong’s definition for sanctified we see that it is set apart to be honored, to keep, to proclaim, to be holy, and to be preserved so this is a spiritual law given by God on the day that he rested from all His work He had done.

Sanctified: (H6942): קָדַשׁ: qâdash
kaw-dash’
A primitive root; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): – appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), X wholly.

6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

As I mentioned earlier I have concluded that Isaac dwelt in the area of Beer-Lahairoi during this famine period as God instructed him to.

7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”;for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” 12:11-13; 20:2

Like father like son, just as his father Abraham did while in Egypt, for fear of his life, he lies to the king of the land because he is afraid of being killed. However I believe Isaac’s lie to be greater than Abraham’s in the sense that Sarah was truly Abraham’s half sister, but Rebekah was not Isaac’s sister, albeit she is his Cousin. Either way Isaac like his father, and like all of us, is growing in his faith and has yet to come to truly believe in God as his father did eventually. One more thing to note here is that we are not sure of the timetable between this chapter and the previous chapter 25. During this chapter I find myself asking, was Esau and Jacob yet born? The reason I ponder this thought is because maybe it would help me in understanding the interactions between Isaac and the king and his men in regards to the disposition of Rebekah. If Esau and Jacob had not yet been born during this time then it is much easier to understand Isaac’s concern for his safety and his faith in the promise God made to him. And it would also be more easily acceptable that the king And the men of the land would believe that Rebekah was his sister and not his wife. However if Esau and Jacob had been born at this time, then this would make it more plausible that Isaac feared for his life had he said that Rebekah was his wife. If Esau and Jacob were alive at this time, then Isaac has already had his seed, and his descendants established by then, so he might think to himself that his part in the grand scheme of things as far as Gods promise is concerned has been completed, meaning his life could now be in jeopardy. Unlike Abraham who during his time in Egypt, Isaac has yet to be born. In this line of thought who is the one lacking less in their faith in God more? Is my way of thinking about this correlation between Isaac and Abraham of any relevance? I don’t know, I just write down my thoughts here on these verses as I see it, at this time in my spiritual growth. What I think is of importance here is the fact that Both Isaac and Abraham share in the same issues that all of us, even to this day share, and that’s learning to trust in God with all our heart and soul, (To have faith in God), These two men struggled with this in their lives; just as we do today. When we come to a point in our life where we find ourselves in a situation that looks bleak we should look at these verses for inspiration and guidance as to how we handle the struggles in our daily lives and grow in this knowledge, and learn to trust in the Lord, because He will provide for us all we need.

8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.

Apparently Isaac was showing affection to Rebekah in a manner that one would show to a wife and not a sister.

9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, she is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” 12:18; 20: 5-13

Again we see the parallel in the life of Isaac and that of his father Abraham. Like I stated in the last verse; both have not yet learned to trust in the Lord fully, and find themselves relying on their own abilities rather than having faith in God. We all struggle with this from time to time, many of times I myself am reminded of what is written in the New Testament: Father I believe, help me with my unbelief (Mar 9:24), So as we read the Old Testament we must remind ourselves that it is not outdated, and is still relevant for us in today s world. I think most of us can relate to the lives of both Abraham and Jacob, and can look to these scriptures as a way of measuring our own faith, learn from their mistakes, become better stewards of the Bible, and become the kind of people that God desires.

10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” 12:19
11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” 12:20; 20:14-16

The Bible references a couple chapters and verses from the book of Genesis, but I would like to reference my own book and verses that I feel is very significant as well here, and that is Lev. 20:10, and Exo 20:13. When I first read this verse back to myself immediately I thought of the Laws of God and the ten Commandments. If we look at the Strong’s definition of the word “Touch” we can see that it has a different implication for the man than it does for the woman in this instance:

Touch: (H5060): נָגַע: nâga‛
naw-gah’

A primitive root; properly to touch, that is, lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication to reach (figuratively to arrive, acquire); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.): – beat, (X be able to) bring (down), cast, come (nigh), draw near (nigh), get up, happen, join, near, plague, reach (up), smite, strike, touch.

If we go back to the time when Abraham was in Gerar and King Abimelech took Sarah to lay with, God came to him in a dream and told the king to return Sarah to Abraham lest he die (Gen 20:3-7), The difference between the two kings is that God spoke to king Abimelech once before during the days of Abraham,(Under these same circumstances), whereas with the Pharaoh we are only told that God cast a plague among the Egyptians, and the Egyptians took these plagues as a sign from God. As I have stated before I believe the bible to be God breathed (Spoken by the mouth of God Himself), In my opinion it is God who put this in the kings heart to decree this law to his people. It is in keeping with God’s ways, His laws, statutes, and commands. With this in mind it is more proof that Gods laws, and commandments are not only for the Israeli nation but for all nations, tribes, and tongues.

12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him.
13 The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;
14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.

One thing we can always count on and rest assure is that God is true to His word. He told Isaac to stay in the land, that He would be with him and bless him. We see here this promise came to fruition in the first year of Isaac dwelling in the land where God told him. We can take home from this the assurance that if we put all our faith in God, and learn to trust in Him, and obey The Lord as Abraham and Isaac did, that God will provide for us all our needs. Isaac was in fact so prosperous that the Philistines were jealous of his riches. We are told in James 4:2 that wars and quarrels come from a jealous heart, people lust for what they do not have. We will see this very thing being played out in the next verses. Everywhere Isaac digs up a well the Philistines come along and claim it for themselves because of this jealousy.

15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 21: 25, 30
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

It appears to me that after Abraham passed away the Philistines didn’t feel obligated to keep the oath that the king and Abraham made with each other. If we go back to the covenant Abraham made with the king, we will see there is no mention of King Abimelech promising to treat Abraham s descendants the same way he treated Abraham, or that he would treat the son of Abraham, or his son’s son the same way he treated Abraham. It is only Abraham who made the promise to treat the kings sons, and their sons fairly. There was no obligation on the part of the king to do anything in this covenant, other than to recognize the well that Abraham had dug (Gen 21:22-32). This is in keeping with Abraham’s nature, he was not one to make a big fuss over things. Just like when Lott’s people and Abraham s people were squabbling over the land; Abraham told Lott back then; “You chose which land to take as a possession and I will go the other way” I am paraphrasing here. Many of wars have been fought, and many people have senselessly died over disputes like this and even less. Abraham is such an inspiration and a great example of how we should treat one another. We will see that Isaac to bears the same resemblance of his father when it comes to matters like these.

17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

The valley of Gerar is located south of Gaza.

18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. 21:30, 31
19 Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. 21:25
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitna.
22 And he moved from there and he dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

As we see from this map above Isaac keeps getting pushed further and further south from the valley of Gerar, in the land of Gerar, by the Philistines because of their jealousy. In my opinion Isaac would have been well within his rights to claim all these wells his father Abraham dug because of the covenant made between Abraham and the king of Gerar during his lifetime. But as I explained earlier the Philistines felt that this covenant was no longer binding on them after Abraham’s death. We see the character of Isaac here as one of a very calm man; very easy going, not one to quarrel. Every time he digs up a well that his father dug in his time the Philistines come along and claim them for themselves, even though they had no part in digging these wells. And every time we see Isaac just moves on further and further south instead of arguing and potentially starting a war. Finally Isaac comes to Rehoboth, Digs another well and this time he has no problems with the Philistines over this particular well which is very close to Beersheba. This is where Abraham and the king of Gerar swore an oath with each other. Why the Philistines don’t try to claim this well as they have in the past? one can only ponder. As we see in the very next verse Isaac moves to Beersheba to settle. Maybe one reason Isaac may have settled in Beersheba is because Abraham dwelt there, so to Isaac this is home, this is where he lived his adult life; it is only proper that he live in the land of his father and raise his family there as well.

23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba
24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham’s sakes.”
25 So he built an alter there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. 12:8

After finally finding a place for his people to settle Isaac decided to go a little further south and live in Beer-sheba. Beer-Sheba is the place where Abraham settled after God appeared to him on mount Moriah. Mount Moriah is where Abraham was tested by the Lord to sacrifice Isaac to the Him. As I stated previously this is where Isaac spent most of his adult life thus far. Beer-sheba is also where Abraham made the covenant with King Abimelech, and the king recognized that Abraham did in fact dig the well in Beer-sheba. Again as I stated earlier, this is why the Philistines didn’t try to lay claim to the well in Beer-sheba. After Abraham laid claim to this well he planted a tree, and we are told that he called on the Lord there:

Gen 21:33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

When we read that Abraham called on the Lord, it is saying to the reader that Abraham worshipped God there, and so did Isaac, and all the people that made up Abraham s tribe, if you will? Beer-sheba became a place of worship for Abraham, Isaac, and we will see also Jacob the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Like I said the Lord appeared twice in Beer-sheba, once to Abraham, and now He appears to Isaac on the same night that he goes into Beer-sheba. When God appears to Isaac His first words are “Do not fear for I am with you” in my opinion the reason God is telling Isaac that He is with him is because of the lack of faith he displayed when he told the Philistines that Rebekah was his sister lest they kill him. God is reassuring Isaac that hey! “I got your back’ don’t worry every thing is going to be alright, I’ll take care of the Philistines. (Rom 8:31-32), So God reiterates to Isaac the covenant He made with his father Abraham, and the promise God made to him at the beginning of this chapter. God tells Isaac that He will bless him and his descendants. So following in his father footsteps Issac built an alter and worshiped the Lord also. This area of Beersheba, in my opinion in a sense is a prelude to the Temple built by king Solomon after the descendants of Abraham came out Egypt in the time of Moses. And settled in the promised land after King David conquered Canaan. God’s presence was there, in Beersheba. Twice the Lord appeared in Beer-sheba, up to this time, and we will see that Jacob/ Israel will also go into Beer-sheba, where he offers up sacrifices unto the Lord. So, to me it is easy to understand why Isaac settled in Beer-Sheba. This place, in my opinion is a very Holy place during the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, And Phichol the commander of his army.
27 And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” v 16; judg. 11:7
28 But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you,
29 “that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.”

Earlier in this chapter we read that the Philistines were envious of Isaac because of the wealth he had accumulated. The king of Gerar even went to Isaac and basically kicked him out of the land where he was living. And as we also read, this wasn’t the only time that Isaac was pushed out further and further away from the city of Gerar. And every time there is a dispute over the wells (Which his father Abraham dug), Isaac peaceably moves on, never do we see him fight over the wells. This is the character of Isaac; a peaceful man, and I would add a man of faith. Why should he quarrel over the wells? The Lord Himself spoke to Isaac and told him to stay in the land of Gerar, and that He would bless him. This isn’t the first encounter that Isaac had with the Lord, lest we forget he was willing to be offered up to Jehovah God on mount Moriah years ago. Isaac was there when the Angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham, in my opinion Isaac heard these blessings from the Angel who said to Abraham “By myself have I sworn, Thus saith the Lord” (Gen 22:15-19), verse nineteen says that Abraham returned to his young men who had been waiting at the foot of mount Moriah. To me this shows that Isaac was there, hearing the Angel of the Lord speaking these blessings to Abraham. It was at that moment on mount Moriah where Abraham s faith was tested, and Isaac was there to witness this faith his father had in God. Is it any wonder why Isaac is such an easy going man? Even though Isaac displays a lack in faith at the beginning of this chapter by telling the king that Rebekah was his sister, for fear they would kill him if they thought he was her husband, this second appearance of the Lord now strengthens Isaac’s faith. And we see that Isaac is not concerned that king Abimelech , and his commander have come to him, as a matter of fact he gets a little bold with them when he says to them, “Why have you come to me since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” Isaac is questioning their motives for their visit. The Lord is truly with Isaac, (As God told him he would be), and the Philistines acknowledge this. They come with an humbling attitude and a certain fear of not only Isaac, but of the Lord God almighty. The king wants assurances from Isaac that he will not harm them. Almost groveling at his feet. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 21:22-24
31 Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

It appears that Isaac is holding all the cards here, but instead of making demands; for instance, asking that they give him back all the wells he and his father Abraham dug, he does just the opposite, he prepares a feast for them. Remember earlier what Issac told them when they arrived: He stated that they hated him, in his mind he felt that maybe they were enemies of his because of how they have treated him. Isaac is displaying characteristics that the bible tells us throughout on how to treat those that hate you, and those that are your enemies (Compare Pro 25:21-22, Matt 5:44, Luke 6:35), this chapter is a great example of how we Christians should live our lives and treat others in the process. The verses I quoted from the new testament are spoken from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself. Just a thought here, but I recall how so many things in Isaac s life are a reflection of Jesus Himself; from the miraculous birth of Isaac, to the incident on mount Moriah where Isaac was to be offered up to the Lord, to this chapter here the life of Isaac parallels that of Jesus Christ, how He lived and what He taught.

32 It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “we have found water.”
33 So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

These two verses are proof of what I just commented on. As soon as this covenant is made and Isaac sends the king off in peace, God rewards him for his good deeds by supplying him with a source of water. Now I just want to say here that this place that Isaac names Shebah, and the city Beersheba, is the same Beersheba that Abraham named back in his day when he first dug this well. According to Adam Clarke s commentary on verse thirty three, it appears that when the Philistines covered over the well Abraham had dug they probably gave Beersheba a different name. Isaac was merely restoring the name of this city to it’s original name given by his father Abraham. We can also go back to verse 18 where it tells us that after Isaac dug the wells his father dug, that he gave these wells the name that his father called them.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he took wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35 And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. 28:1

These last two verses are a prelude to what is about to happen
in the next chapter. There is a reason God ends this chapter with this statement about Esau. Maybe to a lot of people they would be wondering why this chapter ends with something that has nothing to do with what the whole chapter has been about, but let me give my explanation as to why I say it is a prelude, or if you will? a segue into the next chapter. Just like the Lord was telling us in chapter twenty five verse thirty four: “Esau despised his birthright” He is again filling in the details as to why Esau will not inherit the birthright and all the blessings that come with it. Esau has married outside the clan, or tribe, if you will? And therefore his seed has been defiled. In an earlier chapter I went over why it was so important for the bloodline all the way to our Lord Jesus Christ be pure and undefiled; I will refer you to my commentary in Genesis 24:24-28 for this explanation. So Esau has married outside the bloodline, and earlier we were told he despised his birthright, knowing this we can now move onto the next chapter where it all comes to a head as far as who will inherit the covenant and all the blessings God gave to Abraham.

Genesis – deuteronomy

Genesis-chapter 25

Abraham again took a wife, and her name was keturah.

Keturah: (H6989), קטוּרה: qeṭûrâh
BDB Definition: Keturah = “incense”
1) wife of Abraham after Sarah’s death

Most commentaries believe that Abraham married Keturah while Sarah was still alive because of his age. Abraham was 137 when Sarah passed away, and the reasoning giving for their belief is That he was too old to perform the duties required to have more children. I personally don’t agree with this supposition. I believe that just as God visited both Sarah and Abraham, and rejuvenated them according to the time of life, in which male and female were in their prime to have children, God was still blessing Abraham and fulfilling His promise to make Abraham’s descendants as the sand of the sea, and the stars in the heavens (Gen 22:17). In 1 Ch 1:32 we are told that Keturah was a concubine of Abraham’s. And when we read closely we see that she is Abraham’s concubine, not one of Sarah’s handmaidens, as Hagar is described in Genesis; as being a handmaid of Sarah’s, which in essence the same thing.

2 And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shua. 1Chr. 1:32, 33

Like I have said before, God found it relevant to give us the names of the children of Keturah who bore them to Abraham, then I will list them one by one and show the definition of these names in the Hebrew meaning. In the bible, names are very important, sometimes in helping us to understand prophecy, and also in geographical locations, and then to also show the character of the person. Now I don’t know what relevance these names are to us who read the bible but God does. So here we go, and I may learn something now or in the future readings that I can go back and say to myself, “Oh now I get it”

Zimran: (H2175), זמרן: zimrân
BDB Definition: Zimran = “musician”
1) the eldest son of Abraham by Keturah

Jokshan: (H3370), יקשׁן: yoqshân
BDB Definition: Jokshan = “snarer”
1) a son of Abraham by Keturah and father of Sheba and Dedan

Medan: (H4091), מדן: medân
BDB Definition:: Medan = “contention”
1) a son of Abraham by Keturah

Midian: (H4080), מדין: midyân
BDB Definition: Midian or Midianite = “strife”
1) son of Abraham by Keturah and progenitor of the tribe of Midianites or Arabians (noun proper masculine)
2) the tribe descended from Midian (noun proper masculine)
3) the territory of the tribe descended from Midian; located principally in the desert north of the Arabian peninsula; land to which Moses went when he fled from Pharaoh (noun proper locative)

Ishbak: (H3435), ישׁבּק: yishbâq
BDB Definition: Ishbak = “he releases”
1) a son of Abraham by Keturah and progenitor of an Arabian tribe

Shua: (H7744), שׁוּח: shûach
BDB Definition: Shuah = “wealth”
1) son of Abraham by his wife Keturah

3 Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

These are the sons of Jockshan, and grandsons of Abraham

Sheba: (H7614), שׁבא: shebâ’
BDB Definition: Sheba = “seven” or “an oath”
1) son of Joktan and a descendant of Seth (noun proper masculine)
2) son of Raamah, grandson of Cush, and a descendant of Ham (noun proper masculine)
3) son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah (noun proper masculine)
4) a nation in southern Arabia (noun proper locative)

Dedan: (H1719), דּדן: dedân / dedâneh
BDB Definition: Dedan = “low country”
1) the son of Raamah and grandson of Cush.
2)A son of Jokshan and grandson of Keturah (noun proper masculine)
3) a place in south Arabia (noun proper locative)

These are the great grandsons of Abraham, father of Jokshan who is the father of Dedan.

Asshurim: (H805), אשּׁוּרי / אשׁוּרי: ‘ăshûrı̂y / ‘ashshûrı̂y
BDB Definition: Asshuri = “steps”
1) a tribe inhabiting the plain of Esdraelon
2) a tribe descended from Abraham and Keturah

Letushim: (H3912), לטוּשׁם: leṭûshim
BDB Definition: Letushim = “hammered”
1) the 2nd son of Dedan, grandson of Jokshan, great grandson of Abraham by Keturah

Leummim: (H3817), לאמּים: le’ûmmı̂ym
BDB Definition: Leummim = “peoples”
1) son of Dedan and grandson of Jokshan

4 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, And Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

These are the grandsons of Abraham, and the sons of Midian, who is the son of Abraham.

Ephah: (H5891), עיפה: ‛êyphâh
BDB Definition: Ephah = “gloomy”
1) a son of Midian (noun proper masculine)

Epher: (H6081), עפר: ‛êpher
BDB Definition: Epher = “a calf”
1) the 2nd son of Midian

Hanoch: (H2585), חנוך: chănôk
BDB Definition: Hanoch = “dedicated”
1) eldest son of Cain (noun proper masculine)
2) son of Jared and father of Methuselah whom God took home to heaven without dying (noun proper locative)
3) the city which Cain built and named after himself (noun proper locative)
4) a son of Midian, the third child (noun proper masculine)

Abidah:( H28), אבידע: ‘ăbı̂ydâ‛
BDB Definition: Abida or Abidah = “my father knows”
1) fourth son of Midian and grandson of Abraham by his wife Keturah (after Sarah died)

Eldaah: (H420), אלדּעה: ‘eldâ‛âh
BDB Definition: Eldaah = “God has known”
1) a son or descendant of Midian

5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 24:36

Isaac, being the one chosen by God, to whom the promised seed was given, and the one who God will establish a covenant with, is the reason Abraham gives Isaac all that he had (Gen 17:19-21). Ishmael, Abraham’s son thru Hagar, has been promised by God to be blessed also, just not with the promised seed (Jesus Christ), but that he will be fruitful and bare twelve sons who will be princes and make a great nation. One thing I find interesting here is that Ishmael has twelve sons, and as we will see, the nation of Israel is made up of the twelve sons of Jacob, (the son of Isaac),

6 But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines
which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent
them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of
the east. 21:14

So the sons of Abraham who were born thru Keturah, do not have any part of the inheritance of Abraham’s; with the exceptions of gifts. They are still a part of the one promise God made to Abraham, and that is the promise that he will be the father of many nations, and kings shall come out of him, and that his descendants shall be as the sand of the sea (Compare Gen 17:4-7, 22:17). All told Abraham had eight sons whose descendants are spread throughout the middle east and beyond. Some of the descendants and their tribes and nations have been lost in history, but they are not lost to God. He knows where they are and He hasn’t forgotten them. One day He will unite the descendants of Abraham back together and they, or should I say we,(for we are all joint heirs of the promise made to Abraham), will be as one, with one God, and one king.

7 This is the sum of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and seventy five years.
8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man full of years, and was gathered to his people.

So Abraham died at the age of 175 years old and died in the year 2193 AC. All of Abraham’s people came to mourn his death. There is so much I could say about Abraham that I don’t even know where to begin. Abraham a descendant of Shem, who was the son of Noah. He lived the first seventy five years of his life in Mesopotamia: what we now know today as Iraq. He was an Idle worshiper who practiced paganism. He was called out of that world by the Almighty One (as God once called Himself to Abraham). He was known as Abram during this time. It must have been a powerful voice that Abraham heard back then to convince him that he was in the presence of the Creator God, and pack up and leave all that he had, and go to a place where he knew not what would become of him. This is the first time that we see the faith Abraham. God told him that he would build a great nation of from him, and that God would make him famous, that his name would be used to bless other people, and God would use Abraham to bless all the people of the earth. You can read about this in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham believed Him and did as God commanded Him. We don’t see anywhere, where Abraham ever questioned the Lord. Now Abraham wasn’t perfect by all means, and he sometimes tried to trust in his own abilities to bring about the promises God made to Him, and not trust in the Lord. But at every turn when he tried to do things on his own it would only make matters worse. Be it while he was in Egypt, or the land of Gerar, and even when it came to having a son. God would intervene and dust him off and remind Abraham to trust in Him, and not his own judgments. Every time Abraham’s faith in the Lord would be strengthened. Abraham’s faith in the Lord became so strong that he was willing to sacrifice his son, his only son thru Sarah: in which the promised seed would be passed on to. By this time he knew that God could raise Isaac from the dead. He didn’t hesitate to sacrifice Isaac, with a knife in his hand, Isaac lying on the altar, Abraham raised his hand up high, ready to strike the deadly blow to the one that was so near to his heart. At that moment The promise was fulfilled, all nations were indeed blessed by this one act of faith on Abraham’s part. Just as God Himself one day, a couple thousand years later would offer up His only begotten son for the sins of all people, Abraham to was willing to offer up his only begotten son of Sarah to the Lord, knowing in his heart that the Lord would raise Him from the dead, just as God raised his only son from the dead. Up there on mount Moriah Abraham made a profound and prophetic statement to Isaac, when Isaac asked him where was the lamb? And Abraham said to him, “God Himself will provide the lamb,” Indeed God did provide to lamb. The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. By this one act of faith, thru one man, all nations can be called the seed of Abraham, not just is only by the law, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all. You can read about this in the book of Romans chapter 4. Abraham showed us how to have faith in all things, and we must never forget who this man was, is, and will one day become, in Gods kingdom.

9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, 35:29
10 the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. 23:3-16

Both sons of Abraham came to bury their father together. Two great nations were born from these two sons of Abraham. Abraham was, and still is laid to rest with his wife Sarah in the land that he purchased from the sons of Heth, which is in Hebron just south of Jerusalem. He is asleep awaiting the resurrection.

11 And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi. 16:14; 24:62

It is Isaac, and Isaac alone who receives the blessings of Abraham as God told him. Ishmael does not share in this blessing as we read in this verse. Isaac will live in the south. This is where Hagar, who is the one who named the place Beer Lahai Roi, where an angel of the Lord spoke to her, when she ran away from Sarah. This is near the wilderness of Shur.

12 Now this is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. 16:15
13 And these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 1 Chr. 1:29-31

Nebajoth: (H5032), נבית / נביות: nebâyôth / nebâyôth
BDB Definition: Nebaioth or Nebajoth = “heights”
1) a son of Ishmael
2) people descended from 1 called the Nabateans with their capital at Petra

Kedar: (H6938),קדר: qêdâr
BDB Definition: Kedar = “dark”
1) a son of Ishmael (noun proper masculine)
2) the descendants of Kedar (noun proper people)

Adbeel: (H110), אדבּאל: ‘adbe’êl
BDB Definition: Adbeel = “chastened of God”
1) third son of Ishmael and grandson of Abraham

Mibsam: (H4017),מבשׂם: mibśâm
BDB Definition: Mibsam = “sweet odour”
1) a son of Ishmael

14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

Mishma, (H4927), משׁמע: mishmâ‛
BDB Definition: Mishma = “a hearing”
1) one of the 12 sons of Ishmael
2) son of Mibsam of the family of Simeon

Duman, (H1746), דּוּמה: dûmâh
BDB Definition: Dumah = “silence”
1) son of Ishmael and most probably the founder of the Ishmaelite tribe of Arabia (noun proper masculine)
2) a town in the mountainous district of Judah, near Hebron (noun proper locative)
3) a mystical name of Edom indicating death and ruin (noun proper locative)

Massa, (H4854), משּׂא: maśśâ’
BDB Definition: Massa = “burden”
1) a son of Ishmael

15 Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

Hadar, (H2316), חדר: chădar
BDB Definition: Hadar = “honour”
1) an Edomite king

Tema, (H8485), תּמא / תּימא: têymâ’ / têmâ’
BDB Definition: Tema = “desert”
1) the 9th son of Ishmael (noun proper masculine)
2) the land settled by Tema the son of Ishmael (noun proper locative)

Jetur, (H3195), יטוּר: yeṭûr
BDB Definition: Jetur = “enclosed”
1) a son of Ishmael whose descendants warred with Israel east of the Jordan
1a) also called ‘Ituraea’

Naphish, (H5305), נפישׁ: nâphı̂ysh
BDB Definition: Naphish = “refreshment”
1) the next to last son of Ishmael
2) an Arabian tribe

Kedemah, (H6929), קדמה: qêdemâh
BDB Definition: Kedemah = “original”
1) the youngest son of Ishmael

16 These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.

Twelve sons, twelve nations, these nations are the Arabians of today, mixed with the descendant of Esau, who is the grandson of Abraham.

17 These were the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred and thirty seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 25:8; 49:33

Ishmael was born in 2104 AC, and died in the year 2231 AC. You can see my genealogy chart titled Genealogy chart from Noah to Jesus. And you can also read Gen. 16:16 to confirm this. The descendants of Ishmael dwelt in the land that we know today as Saudi Arabia, Ishmael died with his people. He is held in very high esteem even unto this day among the Arab people. Because Ishmael was Abraham’s first born the Arabs feel that Ishmael was cheated out of his birthright by Isaac the firstborn of Sarah and Abraham. It all comes down to what you believe: the Quran, the Torah, or the Bible. As Christians we believe that the Torah and the Bible are God breathed. We believe that the first five books of the bible were written by Moses as God inspired him to write. Because of this, is why we have turmoil in the Mideast. Isaac and Ishmael are stepbrothers separated only by their mothers. Abraham loved both of his sons equally but he loved God more, and as such He gave all the blessings to Isaac, as God had inspired him to do. One day these families will come together again and love one another equally. This will only occur at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ who will usher in Gods kingdom, and he will rule with a rod of iron. There will be peace throughout all of Gods Holy mountain (Isa 19:23-25). We must remember that Ishmael’s mother was an Egyptian, and Isaac’s wife Rebekah was a Syrian. When we know this the prophecy of Isaiah comes alive.

19 This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham Begot Isaac. 1 Chr. 1:28, 34 Matt. 1:2
20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.

We can plainly see that Rebekah is a Syrian by all accounts in verse 20. As mentioned above we can see that God is laying the ground work for His master plan concerning the end times. And as I said in my previous comments, we can get a clearer picture as to the prophecy in Isaiah 19.

21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

If we go down a few verses, in verse 26 we read that Isaac was sixty years old when Isaac and his brother Esau were born. Isaac and Rebekah have been married for almost twenty years at the birth of their sons. So we can see why Isaac went to plead with the Lord on behalf of Rebekah. No doubt Isaac knew of the promises given to him through his father Abraham, and therefore this could also explain why, after twenty years of marriage, that Isaac, like his father started to maybe have some doubts about the promises concerning him and his descendants. The bible doesn’t say that Isaac had doubts, this is purely conjecture on my part.

22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” so she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said to her:
“Two nations are inside the
womb, 17:4-6, 16
Two peoples shall be
separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger
than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger,” Rom. 9:12

The first thing that comes to my mind is the book of Jeremiah, and the issue of abortion in this day and age. (Jer 1:4-5). Just like Jeremiah, whom God knew before he was even formed in the womb, so to God knew Jacob and Esau in the same manner. God knew these men before they were ever conceived. To Him they were already His children before they were formed in the womb of the mother. This tells me that since the first two sons: Cain and Abel, were ever conceived in the womb, God knew us all, and I believe that He also knew us by name. To God, we were already alive and breathing in His heart, even though we had not yet been formed in the womb. We are all His precious children, and He holds us near and dear to His heart, (Each and every one of us). It must break His heart to see what man has become, just as the days of Noah were, so to are the latter days becoming. Man is good at putting a spin on words, and in order to justify Abortion, the pro abortionist activist, and the scientific community use certain terminology to make the unborn unimportant, irrelevant, they use words such as embryo, so as to make it sound like the unborn have no life, and if they can make it appear that the unborn are not living beings, then they can justify the murder of countless millions of babies, without the regard to the unalienable rights that our forefathers put in the declaration of independence for all mankind. And what are these unalienable rights? The first one mentioned in the declaration is the right to LIFE!! then liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And where do we get these rights from? It is as plain as the writing on the paper:

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”

So what about the right to Life of the unborn? Do we just ignore that and say that this is not what the forefathers had in mind when writing the declaration of Independence? Of course not! so the scientific community, along with the pro abortion movement had to make it appear that the unborn are not yet a life form while in the womb at the early stages of pregnancy. So they use words such as embryo in place of the word baby, or infant, or unborn. And in the eyes of the law since the unborn child is called an embryo, (which is defined as an organism in the development stage), thus, since an embryo is defined in this way, then they have no right to life, and the right of the mother can then supersede the right of the unborn child. Unfortunately though, depending on the state, a mother can still have an abortion up to 14-20 weeks into the pregnancy. This is well after the unborn has developed limbs and organs and has taken on life form. But the government still ignores the right to life as “endowed by our Creator” over the right to the mother to have the abortion. One problem, in the end, God’s word supersedes anything man conjures up to satisfy our own selfish acts. “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” I hold these words to be self evident, sanctified by God almighty, the Creator of all life.

24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.

Just as the Lord promised Rebekah, she indeed had twins. Not just was two twins born, but two nations were born as well. One nation coming from Esau the firstborn, who is the forefather of the Arab people along with Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid. Ishmael was the forefather of the Ismaelites, and the Amalekites who settled from Shur all the way to Egypt to the west, and as far east as to Havilah by ancient Assyria. This is in the land of Modern day Saudi Arabia. Esau and his descendants dwelled in Mt. Sier which is in the land of Edom, which is modern day Jordan.

25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 27:11, 16

Esau was the first born of Isaac, but As the Lord told Rebekah; “The elder shall serve the younger” which is contrary to the customs of the day. Even though Esau was the firstborn and heir to the birthright of Isaac it will not be so in the end.

26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27:36; Hos. 12:3; Mal. 1:2, 3

We see Jacobs character developing right from his birth. Jacob wrestled with Esau to come out of Rebekah s womb first. As we see in Genesis chapter 32 that Jacob wrestled with the lord and wouldn’t let him go until He blessed him (Gen 32:24-28). His whole life Jacob would wrestle with people to get what he wanted, but there were times when he got a taste of his own medicine as we will see when it comes to dealing with Laban, the brother of his wives Rebekah, and Rachel.
During this wrestling with the Lord we see that Jacobs name is changed to Israel, which is the birth of the Israeli nation. When one thinks about the history of the Israeli people throughout time, we can see that this act of Jacob wrestling with the Lord is also a foreshadow of the Israelite nation, throughout history the Israeli people have wrestled with God their whole lives. And we also know that in prophecy the Israeli people will eventually prevail, just as Jacob prevailed in his struggle with the Lord.

27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. 27:3, 5
28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 27:4-10

Esau was a man of the outdoors; he loved to hunt for his food while Jacob was just the opposite, he loved to cook, and hang around the house; so to speak, and a shepherd. The reason I say he was a shepherd is because, as we will see when he goes off to dwell with Rebekah s family in the land of Haran he is very successful at tending to Laban s flock of sheep and goats. So he must have gained that knowledge by working the flocks of his father Isaac s. These were two very different men even though they were twins. Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob and we see that Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau. We are told why Isaac loved Esau more: it was because of the game he killed and Isaac loved eating that game. We are not told why Rebekah loved Jacob more than his brother but I have my own thoughts on the matter. In my opinion it is because of what the Lord told Rebekah about the two sons before they were born in Gen 25:23. Rebekah knew the destiny of Jacob, that he would be stronger than Esau, and that Esau would eventually serve Jacob. Rebekah most assuredly knew of the promise made to Abraham and Isaac, and knew the covenant would be handed down to her seed. So since God told her that the older would serve the younger, she deduced in her mind that the covenant would be thru Jacob and not Esau. Also because Jacob dwelt in and around the tents growing up he and Rebekah spent more time together, and so she bonded with him more than Esau. Again this is just my own opinion as to why Rebekah loved Jacob more.

29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.
30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. 36:1, 9

Apparently Esau didn’t have a successful day at hunting. So he asked his brother to feed him. Jacob was making some red stew and we see here why Esau’s name was called Edom. It was because the stew was red. Lets look at the Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew definition of Edom:

Edom, (H123), אדום / אדם: ‘ĕdôm / ‘ĕdôm
BDB Definition: Edom = “red”
1) Edom
2) Edomite, Idumean – descendants of Esau
3) land of Edom, Idumea – land south and south east of Palestine

The main definition of Edom is red, which is the color of the stew Jacob was making. There is something that is also revealing to me in the name Edom, that has to do with prophecies of the latter days. It is prophesied that the people of Edom will escape from the hands of the Anti Christ (Dan 11:41). I believe the reason why Edom will escape from the Anti- Christ is because they are the children of Isaac, and the direct descendants of Abraham. Just as Ammon and Moab are the descendants of Lot. God knows where His people are, and even though the covenant is with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Abraham are not forgotten by our Lord. Now one might say that Lot wasn’t a child of Abraham s. This may be true as far as the direct bloodline, but Abraham raised lot as his own son, and God spared Lot from Sodom because of this. Anyway I digress. I am getting off course here in regards to the verses here. I say that it is the way the spirit moved me at this time and so I write.

31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
32 And Esau said, “Look I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Heb. 12; 16, 17

We see here the character of Jacob. He is a conniver, here he is taking advantage of Esau’s weakness in order to gain the birthright from him. In the bible it is the firstborn male child that gets the birthright, and blessings handed down to him.
At first glance one could think that it wasn’t that Esau despised his birthright, but in fact he felt he was going to die, and if he didn’t eat something soon, he would in fact die. This being the case he would have to be thinking to himself that he wouldn’t live to inherit the birthright. I must reiterate here that it is Moses who is giving the account of the book of Genesis, and it is God who is telling Moses the story. With this in mind, I must remind the reader that God knows the hearts of men (Compare 1 Ki 8:39, Ps 44:20-21), so when He says Esau despised his birthright you can take it to the bank, case closed as far as i’m concerned. Both these men undoubtedly know of the blessings God gave to Abraham. Esau, being the firstborn knew the blessings of the Lord would be handed down to him, and he was willing to give it up to Jacob for a pot of stew. This is also telling of what Esau thought about the covenant God made with Abraham. Just as God said, he didn’t care. God will, and does hold him accountable for this act. Esau will one day reap what he has sown. Jacob, even though he basically stole the birthright from Esau by taken advantage of his weakness, did value the birthright and the covenant. Yet just like his brother, he will in the long run reap what he has sown also. Even though God foreknew that Jacob would be the heir to the blessings, He does not approve of how Jacob goes about obtaining it. There are some things that God will let human nature take its course, but He will still use our own actions against us, and work with these actions to fulfill his plan for man. He will also use our own misgivings against us to mold and shape us into the person He so desires us to be. This is what the Lord does with Jacob, and in the end he will be a better person for it.

Genesis-chapter 24

24

1.Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and
the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh,
3 “and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 9: 25-27; 13:7, 15:21
4 “but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 11:26-31; 22:20-23

Sarah is gone and Abraham has but his son Isaac left.
Isaac is about thirty seven years old; give or take and has
not yet married. His mom Sarah has been the only woman
whom he has had in his life that has given him the
nurturing that only a woman can give, but a mother can
only fulfill maybe 50% of what God intended for a woman
to be to a man. Back in creation after God created man he
knew that it was not good for a man to alone; that he
needed a companion, so He created a woman for the man
taken from the womb of man, and saw that it was Good (Gen 2:18-24). I believe Abraham knew this story of Genesis and that God was the one who revealed it to him. Abraham knew that it was not good for Isaac to be alone. Now with Sarah gone it is time for Isaac to find his companion. Just like God the Father helped his son Adam get his companion so to Abraham is walking in the footsteps of God the Father and takes the lead in finding a companion for Isaac. Abraham has lived in the midst of the Canaanites for some sixty, seventy years now and he knows that there are no women in this land that can compare to his wife Sarah. Sarah was loyal, faithful, loving, and a beautiful woman by all accounts, and Abraham wants Isaac to have a wife like her. Also Abraham may fear that the women of Canaan would lead Isaac astray and away from the one true God, that he himself has come to know, and trust in all things. So like we read at end of chapter twenty two Abraham knows that his brother Nahor has many children, and because Sarah is also of the same family he feels that he can find the same qualities in a woman as Sarah among his own people. At least that is what he hopes, but as we will read In future chapters about Rebekah, we will the difference between Sarah and Rebekah. As I read these verses and write down my thoughts, I am again realizing that only God could have inspired these words. I say this because what Abraham is doing here, is the same as what God warned Moses: to tell the Hebrews when they entered into the promised land (Deut 7:1-6) Abraham understands this, and realizes that God has sanctified his seed and will not let it be defiled by the Canaanites. These verses are also a reminder that God is always in control. His purpose will stand and His will be done. Just one more thing I wanted to comment, or should I say
reveal to whoever reads this, is the purpose for Abraham’s
servant putting his hand under Abraham’s thigh to swear
an oath. The following commentary is from the Biblia.com
website:

In our culture, taking an oath usually involves raising the right hand or placing a hand over the heart or on a Bible. In ancient Hebrew culture, we find something a little different. Genesis 24:9 describes an odd practice that involved Abraham’s servant swearing to obey his master’s command
to find a wife for Isaac: “So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.” In Genesis 47:29, Jacob makes his son Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan, not Egypt. The same ritual is observed: Joseph is required to put his hand under Jacob’s thigh as he makes the promise. It seems strange to us, but placing one’s hand under someone else’s thigh had a symbolic purpose.
In both cases, the request is made by a patriarch nearing death. Also, both oaths deal with family matters. In the case of Abraham and Jacob, the family was blessed by God Himself (Genesis 15:5; 28:14). The thigh was considered the source of posterity in the ancient world. Or, more properly, the “loins” or the testicles. The phrase “under the thigh” could be a euphemism for “on the loins.” There are two reasons why someone would take an oath in this manner: 1) Abraham had been promised a “seed” by God, and this covenantal blessing was passed on to his son and grandson. Abraham made his trusted servant swear “on the seed of Abraham” that he would find a wife for Isaac. 2) Abraham had received circumcision as the sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:10). Our custom is to swear on a Bible; the Hebrew custom was to swear on circumcision, the mark of God’s covenant. The idea of swearing on one’s loins is found in other cultures, as well. The English word testify is directly related to the word testicles.

5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not
be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son
back to the land from which you came?” v.58
6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take
my son back there. 12:1
7 “The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s
house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me
and swore to me, saying, “To your descendants I give this
land,” He will send His angel before you, and you shall take
a wife for my son from there. 12:7; Ex223:20
8 “And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you
will be released from this oath; only do not take my son
back there.”
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham
his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Abraham is very adamant about His servant to not, for any reason take Isaac up out of the land that the Lord promised to him and his descendants. He tells his servant “Beware” not to take Isaac back to the land of Haran. It has been over approximately 50 years now that Abraham has known the almighty one (Gen 17:1). Abraham has had a personal relationship with God all this time and he has now come to trust the Lord in all things. God once asked him if there wasn’t anything that He couldn’t do? (Gen 18:14). Abraham has seen God’s work throughout his life and he
believes. Abraham is telling the Servant that the Lord God of heaven (who has been with him for fifty years of his life), will be with the servant in his journey just as He has been with Abraham. It is the same faith that Abraham showed when he was to offer up Isaac to the Lord as a sacrifice, and he told his son then that “The lord will provide” Abraham Knows, without the shadow of a doubt, that the lord God will provide a wife for Isaac. This is why Abraham is called the father of faith. We who follow the Lord can hold our heads up high and not have any doubts or fears, for God is our provider, and His presence is always with us day and night, he lifts us up when we are down, He will never Forsake us. What an awesome, loving God we serve.

10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and
departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he
arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
11:26-29

So the servant of Abraham’s journeyed to the land from
of Abraham’s family. The city of Nahor is the place where
Abraham’s brother lived, which is located in modern day
Iraq, and Syria. I must note here that This servant of
Abraham’s had to be very loyal to him. Abraham entrusted
this man with many of his treasures. This servant could
have ran off with all this wealth and never returned.

11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by
a well of water at evening time, the time when women go
out to draw water.
12 Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham,
please give me success this day, and show kindness to my
master Abraham.

These two verses here I believe kind of emphasizes what I
mentioned previously About this mans loyalty to Abraham.
In his prayer he ask for God to give him success and that
He, (God), to show kindness to his master Abraham. I
think this loyalty and trustworthiness of the servant tells
of Abraham’s character and how he treated his servants.
If Abraham had treated this man in a cruel manner, the
servant would not have set out to do what he swore to do
for Abraham. He would have just high tailed it and never
returned.

13 “Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the
daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw
water.
14 “Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say,”Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, “Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’-let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that you have shown kindness to my
master.” Judge. 6:17, 37, 39

Picking up from where we left off from in verses 11, and 12
The servant is still praying to the God of Abraham, which
just got me to thinking that sometimes when I pray I start
off with “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is to you
whom I pray” so I believe that just because the servant is
saying in his prayer “O Lord God of my master Abraham”
it doesn’t mean that he has a different god he prays to, he
is merely acknowledging the one true God. In the spirit
of this prayer the servant must be remembering what
Abraham told him back in verse seven of this chapter (Gen 24:7). He recognizes that God is in control of this matter and not
him. He is putting his trust in God just as his master
Abraham does, he is a reflection of Abraham, and come to
think of it, a reflection of God’s promise to the gentile
nations that we who have the faith of Abraham are grafted
in along with the seed of Abraham to the promises. This
servant is showing his faith in God as his master Abraham does. (Compare Rom 4:16, Gal 3:7 9). This servant, though he probably does not know it, is blessed with the faithfulness of his master Abraham.
The last thing I want to mention here is in this servants prayer he calls Isaac God’s servant. We are all servants in to someone or something in our life. Those of us who understand God’s word and the teachings of Jesus, know that even though we will be spirit beings in that kingdom, and in charge of many or a few cities (as told in the parable) in Luke: even though we are masters we are also servants. Jesus taught this in the new covenant at the Passover meal when he began to wash the feet of the disciples. “he who is first will be last. Compare Mark 10:45, Luke 19:17, John 13:12- 17). This servant is no slave to Abraham, he can come and go
as he pleases. So when people try to say that God teaches slavery and they hold up the old testament as their basis, they do not know what they are talking about. There is a difference in the way that the Hebrew nation, and the sons of Israel treated their “servants” God taught them that they
were an extension of their family and not slaves. Now did all Israeli’s treat their servants in the way God intended? certainly not! for we are of the flesh and sin lies within us. But in Abraham’s case, he treated his servants as family, the way God intended.

15 And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that
behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah,
the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her
pitcher on her shoulder. Is. 65:24

Compare Isa 65:26 with Matt 6:7-8. While the servant was praying to God, the Lord was already answering this prayer; Rebekah was already on her way towards the servant. God knows our needs and desires before we ask it of Him. Some people say, “then why pray if He already knows our needs?” We pray in acknowledgment of His power, His existence, we pray to Him as a way of showing our faith in Him, we pray to Him as if to say “Lord I need you, you are my rock, my reason for living, you are where I get my strength from, I can do nothing without you.”

16 Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a
virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the
well, filled her pitcher, and came up. 26:7; 29:17

We men have all, at one time or another come across a woman
who in our eyes was the most beautiful woman we have
ever seen, this is Rebekah; a very beautiful woman who is
soft to the eyes, someone to whom when you look at her you
see nothing but innocence, an angel, an answer to every
mans prayer who’s heart is in the right place. Rebekah has
never slept with any man, undefiled, and worthy to be the
wife of Isaac, who together can share in the blessings giving
to Abraham and Sarah by God almighty.

17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me
drink a little water from your pitcher.”
18 So she said, “Drink my lord.” Then she quickly let her
pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink.
19 And when she had finished given him a drink, she said,
“I will draw water for your camels also, until they have
finished drinking.”
20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough,
ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his
camels. v. 14
21 And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to
know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous
or not. vv. 27, 52

So the servant, after seeing Rebekah went to meet her, to, in a sense test her, and see if she would do all the things which he prayed to God about; so he could take comfort in knowing that she was the woman whom his master Abraham said to him that the Lord will send an angel to help him. When Rebekah acted in the manner to which he prayed to God about he stood there speechless, in amazement and awe, as to what had just happened. She was exactly what he had hoped and prayed about. We don’t know exactly what went through his mind, but if it were me I would be like, “What an awesome God I serve,’ this is truly a sign from heaven above.”

22 So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold,
23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge.?”

After weighing out all that had just happened, the servant he knew in his heart that the Lord had led him to Rebekah. Being confident he reached into the goods that Abraham had entrusted upon him and gave Rebekah some jewelry that women would have worn at the time, and being that
they were made of gold would have been of great significance to Rebekah as to the intent of the servant.

24 So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel,
Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” 22:20-23
25 Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”
26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped
the Lord. v. 52
27 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my masters brethren.”
vv. 4, 21, 48; 32:10; Ps. 98:3
28 So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.

After Rebekah told the servant who she was and her genealogy, it was then that the servant knew without the shadow of a doubt that God’s hand had guided him to her, and so he got down on his knees and acknowledged the God of Abraham, and His kindness that He has shown towards his master Abraham. Rebekah is the granddaughter of Nahor who was Abraham’s brother. By this we can conclude that she was close to Isaac’s age since Isaac was born late in Abraham’s life. We see a trend starting to develop here as far as God’s plan for His chosen people. Since the time of Terah we see that the marriages between his sons Abraham, Nahor, and Haran have all been from the same seed as Terah. In Exodus we can read where God tells Moses to tell the Israeli nation that they are a chosen people, and as such are a holy people unto God (Compare Exo 19:5-6. Lev 19:1-2, Deut 14:2, 26:18-19). In order for the descendants of Abraham to become a holy people unto God they must be of the same bloodline, and undefiled, a pure and holy nation. This is why God told the Israeli’s at the time of the exodus, upon entering into the promised that they had to drive out and destroy all the people in the land of Canaan so that they would not marry into an ungodly people and bear children of mixed seed who would turn them away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exo 23:27- 33).

29 now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and
Laban ran out to the man by the well. 29:13
30 So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well.
31 And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”

We will hear more of Laban later on as well in Genesis chapter 29-31, when we come to the story of Jacob. We will find that Laban is a very cunning man. But for now in these verses he appears to be genuine in his hospitality towards Abraham’s servant. I would say that right now his curiosity has been sparked, and he wants to see if indeed what Rebekah had told him was true, but I also believe that the fine jewelry Laban sees that was given to his sister Rebekah has peeked his interest in more ways than one, and I will leave at that for now. If it were me, and it was my sister I would be protective of her and want to find out who this man is and his true intentions. Also I believe that later on in Genesis we will see Laban for who he truly is in his dealings with Abraham’s servant and also even later in the way he deals with Jacob; son of Isaac, and grandson of Abraham.

32 Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told about my errand.” And he said, “Speak on.”
34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. v.2
35 “The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 13:2; 24:1
36 “And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. 21:2; 25:5
37 “Now my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; v.3
38 ‘but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ v.4
39 “And I said to my master,’Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
40 “But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. vv. 5-7
41 ‘You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’ v.8

The servant’s mind is still thinking about the task at hand. He first makes sure that the men, and the animals who have traveled with him are tended to before his own needs. The servant will not rest until he has fulfilled the oath that he swore to Abraham. Then and only then can this servant find
rest. Verses 34-41 the servant is telling Laban (Rebekah s brother), who he is, who sent him, and his purpose for being there. The servant also lets it be known that the Lord God has blessed Abraham and it is His hand who is at work here, and has guided him to the family of Abraham, just as Abraham said He would do. He also lets it be known to Laban that the woman he seeks to be his masters son’s wife must come from the house of Terah (Abraham s father), Laban s grandfather. The servant then goes on to tell Laban that the only way he can be released from this oath is for
Laban and his family to deny him the woman of his choosing.

42 “And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if you will now prosper the way in which I go, v. 12
43 ‘behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” vv. 13, 14
44 ‘and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”- let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

The servant is emphasizing to Laban that he prayed to the God of Abraham, and puts in in His hands to chose a wife for his master Abraham’s son. The servant also lets it be known to Laban that in his prayer he is very specific to the Lord so as to be sure that it is indeed God s will being done, and not that of his own.

45 “But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ vv. 15-17
46 “And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also. vv. 18-20

Mat 6:8, Again the servant is emphasizing to Laban that it is God who has chosen Rebekah to be the wife of his master Abraham’s son Isaac. Just as the servant told Laban about his prayer to the Lord, Rebekah fulfilled this request he made to Him. Her actions are just as the servant requested
of the Lord. There can be no doubt in the servants mind that Rebekah is the one whom God has appointed, and he is making it plain to Laban also, so as to remove any doubt from his own mind that everything being played out here is of God.

47 “Then I asked her, and said, “Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. v. 24
48 “And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and bblessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. vv. 26-27
49 “Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

Now to put the nail in the coffin (If you will), the servant did not know who Rebekah was or what family she belonged to until he asked her. Once he found out that she was indeed from the house of Abraham’s father Terah, he proceeded to give her gifts that Abraham gave him for this purpose. After telling Laban all these things he now asks Laban if he will indeed see it in his heart that what he speaks to him is the truth and to grant his master Abraham all that he ask of him. The servant ends by asking Laban if he should search elsewhere for his master or will Laban find favor in him, and let him stay and search no further.

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The things come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Ps. 118:23
51 “Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken.”

The servant has spoken the truth according to God’s will, and Laban, and his mother realize that the Lord is guiding all that is before them. Just as Abraham had heard of the family of his brother Nahor from caravans or however the news came to him, so to Abraham’s exploits have been well documented and the news about him have been passed on throughout the known world by this time. Laban and Bethuel have heard how God is with Abraham and has blessed him in all that he has or does, even before this servant came to them asking for Rebekah on Abraham’s behalf. This is why Rebekah s family will not speak out either for or against to the servant. For they know that if they do they are in essence speaking out to the Almighty God Himself, and they do not want to go against the will of God.

52 And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. vv. 26, 48

Again the servant gives thanks and all the glory to God. He bows to His greatness in recognition of His deity.

53 Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

As was the custom, and it is still practiced today in the middle east and other nations, for the groom to give the family of the bride a dowry of precious gifts. Some people who do not understand may look at this act as a selling off of Rebekah like a slave. But this is clearly not the case. No where do we see where there is any negotiations between the parties as to the price for Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife.

54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.” vv. 56, 59; 30:25

The servant has fulfilled the oath that he swore to Abraham and so now he can finally rest easy and eat and drink, not just because they were hungry and thirsty (Which no doubt they were), but now they have reason to be merry and rejoice at what they have accomplished. Now that they have done all that they set out to do there is no reason to make haste. They must be on their way for they know that their masters Abraham and Isaac are eagerly awaiting their return.

55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”

Now we start to see the craftiness that is in Laban s nature. I believe that Laban and his mother have been spending the night trying to conjure up ways in which to take advantage of the servant and maybe squeeze him for more jewelry of gold and silver and whatever riches he may have. They still do not want to go against the Lord will, but they are just wanting to delay it for awhile hoping to gain more riches; thinking that if they put it off for awhile the Lord will bless them with more treasures.

56 And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.” vv. 54, 59

I believe the Servant can see right thru the true intentions of Laban and his mother. So he reminds them that it is the Lord God Almighty who has put His hand, or you will His seal of approval of this marriage between Isaac and Rebekah.

57 So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.”

So as to have their conscience clean they put this decision on Rebekah, and if she decides to stay awhile longer then they can say in their hearts to God that it was not them but Rebekah who has hindered His will. (Matt 27:24), one problem though, they do not know God as Abraham does, and are not aware that God knows the hearts of men. Laban and Bethuel s actions here remind me of Pilate when he washed his hands at the killing of an innocent man.

58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” v. 5
59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. vv. 54, 56

Rebekah was more than willing to go with the servant, and we see no hesitation on her part. She has had ample time to meditate on this and I believe that the Lord’s spirit is with her and has put it in her heart to fulfill her destiny. As I said before, Rebekah has no doubt herd about her uncle Abraham and his relationship with God Almighty. She may indeed feel blessed among all the people of the land of Haran to be chosen by God in fulfilling His purpose for humanity. Just as we who are chosen today to be a part of His spiritual family, should keep in mind why we are here, and what God is preparing us for in His soon coming kingdom. The last thing I would like to add hear, and also clarify to whoever reads my work. First I would like to make it clear that before I comment on the verses that I read, I meditate on them, ask for God to inspire my writings, just as he did with all those whose words I hold true to the spirit, in recording His word that we know as the bible. When I feel that I understand the verses I comment on them, without any outside help from man. Then and only then will I go to all the sources I have listed in my devotional quality in the preface to my work. There have been a couple times I felt it necessary to go to my sources first in order to help me in understanding the verses, IE; the story of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. I say this because after commenting on these verses, I went and read the commentaries, and there is one that stood out and gave me another insight on how one could interpret these verses from the spiritual aspect, so I would like to share this now with the reader. The commentary that stood out to me was from the poor man’s commentary by Robert Hawker published in 1805:

Some have thought, that this bringing in of Rebekah into the tent, is no unapt similitude of the bringing in of the Gentiles to the church.

Now Mr. Hawker was commenting on verse 67 of this chapter when Rebekah finally arrived to meet Isaac for the first time. However I felt compelled to mention it in these verses, and I would like to expound on that now.
Rebekah was taking a leap of faith for the promise not yet seen but hoped for. She, as a gentile, is displaying the faith of Abraham, and is therefore a representation of being grafted into the family of God along with Abraham, and the Hebrew people, and is therefore a joint heir of the promise (Compare Rom 4:10-18, Heb 11:8-10, Gal 3:26-29). Rebekah displays all these attributes above by leaving her home and going to a place where she hoped would be better than whence she come from, believing in the things which she has yet not seen, and having the faith of Abraham, and His God.

60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her:

“Our sister, may you become
The mother of thousands of
ten thousands; 13:6;15:5

Compare the following verses, Gen 15:5, 22:17, 28:14

The gates of those who hate
them.” 12:3

Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

This is not an uncommon blessing for families to do when their loved ones get married. Even to this day people from all walks of life bless their children when they get married to be a fruitful family. Back during the time of these verses, this blessing is a little different in regards to blessing them with being mothers of thousands and ten thousands. In my opinion this is because it hasn’t been that long ago since the flood and the blessings that God gave to Noah, to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 9:1). And the people during this time have probably passed this blessing down from generation to generation. I have decided to copy some of the verses that are referenced here so that the reader can see the correlation between these verses and the blessings that God has promised to Abraham:

61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

So not only did Rebekah have a nurse with her, but also she had other servants that went with her as well. In this verse they are described as maids, but that’s just semantics. And it appears here that because Rebekah had these maids with her, that there wasn’t enough camels for everyone to ride. So Abraham’s servant and the men that went with him all traveled by foot back to Canaan.

62 now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the south. 16:14; 25:11

Isaac was living by the well of the living one, also known as Beer Lahai Roi. This is the place where Hagar, (Sarah’s servant, and mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s son), met an angel of the Lord while she was fleeing from Sarai, Abram’s wife, before she bore Ishmael to Abram. The angel of the Lord said to Hagar to go back to Sarai and submit to her. In Gen 16:10 this angel of the Lord also promised Hagar that He would multiply thy seed exceedingly. Because this Angel says to Hagar that He will multiply thy seed, and not “Thus Say the Lord” I believe that this angel is none other than Jesus Christ, or God himself. This is my opinion and I do not get this thought from any other source.

63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there the camels were coming. Josh. 1:8

So Issac is 40 years of age by this time:

Gen 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

He is meditating in the field around Beer Lahai Roi. One can only guess at what he is meditating about. In my opinion I think he is undoubtedly talking to God, and maybe he is talking to Him about his bride to be, and the kind of woman he would like to have as his wife. This could have been only one thought out of many that could have been going thru his mind. He could also be thinking about his mom and how much he missed her. His destiny, as he has been promised by God, and told to by his father Abraham, and his mom Sarah throughout the years. I know myself when I pray, I do not limit my prayer to one thought but many things are included in them. But I believe that probably his main thought is on who his wife will be, how many children they will have and the like. Just as God tells us that He knows our thoughts and our needs before we ask, Isaac looks up and see s the camels coming towards him. While Isaac was meditating, God had already answered Isaac’s prayer.

64 Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;
65 for she had said to the servant, “Who, is this man walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took a veil and covered herself.

When Rebekah is told by the servant who Isaac is, out of respect for Isaac, she gets down off the camel so as to not appear to be above Isaac in any way: for the man is the Head of the woman, just as Jesus Christ is the head of man, and God is the head of Jesus Christ (1 Co 11:3-9). Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, again I believe she too was meditating about her future and her husband to be. The two, at those moments before they saw one another, were of the same mind, thinking of the same thing, as if they were already married. Okay I know that I don’t know that this is what was going on between the two and their thoughts, but what a nice love story it is; to think that those fleeting moments, before they saw each other, that God was working with them, and in them as if they were of one mind, and He had already joined them together.

66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. 23:1; 25:20

Just as the servant told the story to Rebekah s family about his journey and How it was God who led him to Rebekah, he is now telling it once more to Isaac. Isaac can rest assure that God has indeed ordained this marriage between him and Rebekah. This being said, there is no need for a wedding ceremony, God has already joined these two together, I believe this is why Isaac, immediately after hearing the servants story, takes Rebekah into his mothers tent and loves her. And we read that Isaac was comforted after his mothers death. This verse helps support my belief that one of the things Isaac was meditating in the field was about the loss of his mom.
One more thing I would like to note here is that some commentaries look at these verses as a representation of The marriage between Jesus Christ and the Church. While there are many similarities between Jesus and Isaac, I have a problem with that train of thought in this particular instance for this reason: When Jesus Christ returns, the church and Jesus will be married together as one, and Jesus will then present the church to the Father, and we will be joined together into Gods kingdom. So now, if Isaac would have taking Rebekah into Abraham’s tent then that would make more sense, but he doesn’t, he takes her into his mothers tent. I am not saying that these commentaries are wrong, I am just saying that it doesn’t make sense to me at this point in my spiritual journey.

Genealogy of Adam to Joseph

Genealogy of Adam to

Joseph

I think most people will probably skip over the Genealogy of Adam and not pay much attention to it. I on the other hand, about a year ago(2013) thought it would be interesting to follow this genealogy. At the time, my purpose was to put a date on the flood of Noah’s time. Since then, during my growing process of weaning myself off the milk and getting to the real meat of things:

1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk and not with solid food, for you were not yet able to bear it; nor are you able even now.

Heb 5:12 For indeed because of the time, you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again what are the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have become in need of milk, and not of solid food.

Heb 5:13 For everyone partaking of milk is unskillful in the Word of Righteousness, for he is an infant.

Heb 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, even those who because of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

1Pe 2:2 desire the sincere milk of the Word, as newborn babes, so that you may grow by it;

I have come to learn why God was so specific in the dates and the names of the descendants of Seth. Up until the time of Noah, there is one pure blood line that will eventually lead to the promised seed of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is very important according to the purpose of God. We must look at it this way: God is holy, Therefore, in order for Jesus Christ to be Holy and without sin, there must be no deviation in the bloodline leading up to the Birth of Jesus. We see in this genealogical map that the seed of Adam is handed down from generation to generation. The following are my calculations, according to scripture, of the Genealogy from Adam to the flood. With the exception of Adam I use the abbreviation A.C. to stand for after creation, so as to help me in counting the years to Noah. It is through the seed of Jesus Christ only, that I will record the Genealogy of man in these writings. Cain and his descendants, as well as Shems brothers (Japheth and Ham) will not be recorded here. You can find the descendants of Ham, and Japheth in my genealogy chart of Noah to Jesus. And Cains descendants are recorded in my Genesis file.

Adam was born 0000 BTF (before the flood)

Genesis. 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years. And he died. Adam died in 0930 Ac, hence he lived 930 years. Gen 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and fathered a son in his own likeness, after his own image. And he called his name Seth. Gen 5:8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years. And he died. Seth was born in 0130 AC, he lived 912 years and died in the year 1042 AC. Gen 5:6 And Seth lived one hundred and five years and fathered Enos. Gen 5:11 And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years. And he died. Enosh was born in 0235 AC, he lived 905 years and died in 1140 AC. Gen 5:9 And Enosh lived ninety years and fathered Cainan. Gen 5:14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. Cainan was born in 0325 AC, he lived 910 years and died in 1235 AC Gen 5:12 And Cainan lived seventy years and fathered Mahalaleel. Gen 5:17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years. And he died. Mahalalel was born in 0395 AC, he lived 895 years and died in 1290 AC. Gen 5:15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty-five years and fathered Jared. Gen 5:20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years. And he died. Jared was born in 0460 AC, he lived 962 years and died in 1422 AC. Gen 5:18 And Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years and fathered Enoch. Gen 5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch was born in 622 AC, he lived 365 years and died in 987 AC. Gen 5:21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years and fathered Methuselah. Gen 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years. And he died. Methuselah was born in 687 AC, he lived 969 years and died in 1656 (the year of the flood), This would obviously mean that Methuselah knew of the coming flood and watched Noah build the ark, maybe even lent a hand as best6 he could. He also could have been a witness to the people of the land. According to god’s laws : It takes two witness’s to condemn someone to death, and God is not above His own laws. The law of God did not all the sudden come to being at the time of Moses, but it has always been and will forever be, In my opinion God had to wait until Methuselah’s death so as to spare him from the coming flood. Why did God not allow Methuselah to live thru the flood? Yet have him witness the beginning of the end? This is just a thought that came to mind when reading this verse. Gen 5:25 And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years and fathered Lamech. Gen 5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years. And he died. Lamech was born in 0874 AC, he lived 777 years old and died in 1651 AC. Just as his father Methuselah, Lamech knew of the flood, and the beginning of the end. therefore he to could have helped Noah build the ark and also be another witness to the people of the coming doom due to their wickedness. Also another note about Lamech. He lived 777 years. The number 7 is a sign of perfection in the eyes of the Lord. Does this mean that Lamech lived a perfect life? Again another thought to ponder on. Gen 5:28 And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years and fathered a son. Gen 5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This one shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Jehovah has cursed. Gen 9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years. And he died. Noah was born in 1056 AC, he lived 950 years and died in 2006 AC. Gen 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old. And Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Gen 11:11. And after he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived five hundred years. And he fathered sons and daughters. Shem, was born in 1556 AC, he lived 500 years and died in 2056 AC. Gen 11:10. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. Gen 11:12. Arphaxad lived thirty five years, and begot Salah. Gen 11:13. And after he fathered Salah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years. And he fathered sons and daughters. Arphaxad was born in 1658 AC two years after the flood. He lived 438 years and died in 2096 AC. Gen 11:12. Arphaxad lived thirty five years, and begot Salah. Gen 11:14. And Salah lived thirty years and fathered Eber. Gen 11:15. After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. Salah was born in 1693 AC. Salah lived 433 years and died in 2126 AC. Gen 11:14. Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. Gen 11:16. And Eber lived thirty-four years and fathered Peleg. Gen 11:17. After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. Eber was born in 1723 AC. Eber lived 464 years and died in 2187 AC. Gen 11:16. Eber lived thirty four years, and begot Peleg. Gen 11:18. Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. Gen 11:19. After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. Peleg was born in 1757 AC. Peleg lived 239 years and died in 2026 AC. Gen 11:18. Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. Gen 11:20. Reu lived thirty two years, and begot Serug. Gen 11:21. After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. Reu was born in 1787 AC. Reu lived 239 years and died in 2026 AC. Gen 11:20. Reu lived thirty two years, and begot Serug. Gen 11:22. Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. Gen 11:23. After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. Serug was born in 1819 AC. Serug lived 230 years and died in 2049 AC. Gen: 11:22. Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. Gen 11:24. Nahor lived twenty nine years, and begot Terah. Gen 11:25. After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters. Nahor was born in 1849 AC. Nahor lived 148 years and died in 1997 AC. Gen 11:24. Nahor lived twenty nine years, and begot Terah. Gen 11:26 And Terah lived seventy years and fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. Gen 11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years. And Terah died in Haran. Terah was born in 1878 AC. Terah lived 205 years and died in2083 AC. Gen 11:26 And Terah lived seventy years and fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. Gen 25:7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, which he lived: a hundred seventy-five years. Abraham was born in 1948 AC. He lived 175 years and died in 2123 AC. Jacob and his brother Esau were 15 years old when Abraham died. And Isaac was 75 years old. Gen 25:26 And after that his brother came out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel. And his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.27:36: Hos. 12:3; Mal.1:2,3) Gen 17:17. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? Gen 23:1. And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. Sarah was born in the 1958 AC. She lived 127 years and died in 2085 AC. Sarah is the only woman in the bible where it is recorded when she was born and when she died. She was that special to God. To list her amongst the seed of His creation, along with all the men whose seed can be traced all the way down to Jesus Christ. Sarah was a very special and blessed woman. Gen 21:5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 12:4; 17:1, 17 Gen 35:28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. Isaac was born in 2048 AC. He lived 180 years and died in 2228 AC. Both Esau and Jacob were 120 years of age at the death of their father Isaac. Gen 25:26 And after that his brother came out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel. And his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27:36: Hos. 12:3; Mal.1:2,3 Gen 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacobs life was one hundred and forty seven years. Vs. 8, 9 Jacob was born in 2108 AC (Gen. 25:26), He lived 147 years and died in 2255 AC. Jacob entered into Egypt when he was 130 years old: (Gen 47:9), And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before the Pharaoh and interpreted his dreams And stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Gen 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. The seven years of plenty have passed and now there has been two years of famine when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and calls his father Jacob to Egypt. This would put Joseph at thirty nine years of age Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Gen 45:8 And now you did not send me here, but God. And He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt. Gen 45:9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, So says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not wait. Jacob was born in the year 2108 Ac, which means he arrived in Egypt in the year 2238 AC. Gen 47:9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and I have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. Since Joseph was thirty nine When Jacob entered Egypt this would mean that Joseph was born in the year 2199 when Jacob was ninety one years of age. In Gen. 38:1 we are told, “at that time” (meaning at the time Joseph was sold into slavery), Judah went into Adullam and met a Canaanite woman whose father was a friend of Judah named Shuah and he married her. Judah had three sons with this woman; Er, Onan, and Shelah. In my opinion this would mean that Er was born at the time Joseph was 17 years of age, maybe 18 (meaning Er was born in the year 2216 or 2218), as far as the genealogy of Judah goes, when it comes to the prophesied seed in which all nations of the earth will be blessed, These three sons of this woman will have no part in that. For God killed the first born Er because of his wicked ways (Gen. 38:7), Then Judah’s second son Onan would not fulfill God’s law when it came to given his seed to the wife of Er. He spilled it on the ground and God slew him (Gen. 38: 9, 10). Another side note here. We see in this that the laws of God were well in effect way before the Hebrews were reminded of them on Mt. Sinai. Now Er’s wife, Tamar, was childless, and according to the law of God, Judah’s last son was the only one left and so it was up to Shelah (Judah s last son), to conceive a child with Tamar so that she could carry on the family name and pass down the land blessings to the child. But Shelah was too young at the time so Judah told her to wait at her own fathers house until he was of age. But Judah forgot about her, and years have gone by now and Judah’s wife (whose name is never given in the bible), the daughter of his friend Shuah dies. Now Tammar has been waiting for years to no avail. So she heard that Judah was going to be in a certain town, and so she sets up herself to be a harlot to trick Judah into sleeping with her, and he does, so she ends up having twins; Zarah and Pharez. It is thru Pharez that his seed will be the one God has chosen to pass down to the promised seed in which all nations of the earth will be blessed. And so it is thru these events in which I must determine the date of Pharez’s birth so as to keep my genealogy tree going to Jesus Christ. When Tamar reveals to Judah that it was he who she played the harlot with, He acknowledges that she was more righteous than him because he had forgotten to give her his youngest son to her (According to the law of God), This timeline listing of the genealogy from Adam to Joseph follows the seed of Adam to eventually Jesus Christ our Lord. However in order to follow this timeline when it comes to Judah we have to first determine the birth of Joseph because there is more information on his age at different times of his life as opposed to Judah. This is why I included Joseph, and put him before Judah. As I reason this out, you (the reader) will see the importance of why I did it this way. Now let me turn my attention to Judah whom through his seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed, and his son Perez (also known as Pharez), since I have already proven that Joseph was born in the year 2199, I can now show how I came to the determination of Judah’s birth. We must go back to When Jacob was in Syria, and the statements he makes in Genesis chapter thirty: Joseph is born And Jacob goes to Laban the Syrian and says the following: “Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go. For you know my service which I have done you.(Gen.30:6), Meaning that he has fulfilled his fourteen years of service to Laban the Syrian. Seven years Jacob served Laban the Syrian so as to marry his daughter Rachel (The wife he loved the most), only to be deceived by his father in law and having to marry Leah first. Then he had to serve Laban the Syrian another seven years for his daughter Rachel, But Jacob didn’t have to wait seven years to marry Rachel, only a week according to most scholars, and even the church I attend ascribes to this theory. So according to Genesis chapter 30:6 Jacob married both Leah and Rachel the first seven years of service to Laban the Syrian. Gen 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him a few days, for the love he had for her. Gen 29:21 And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, so that I may go in to her. Gen 29:22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. Gen 29:23 And it happened in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him. And he went in to her. Gen 29:24 And Laban gave Zilpah his slave woman to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. Gen 29:25 And it happened in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you tricked me? Gen 29:26 And Laban said, It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the first-born. Gen 29:27 Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you shall serve with me still another seven years. Gen 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. And he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. Gen 29:29 And Laban gave Bilhah his slave woman to his daughter Rachel, to be her handmaid. Gen 29:30 And he also went in to Rachel. He also loved Rachel more than Leah, and served with him still seven more years. Jacob had all his sons during the last seven years of service to his father in law. To support this I also want to reference one more chapter: Genesis chapter thirty one Jacob basically flees Laban the Syrian, sidebar: The reason I keep describing Laban as “Laban the Syrian” is because this is how scriptures portrays him three times during this time period, and once more he is described as “Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian” in chapter twenty eight. So God makes a point of letting us know who Laban is, and where he comes from, so I will stick with the word of God. OK now back to Genesis chapter thirty one, Jacob is fleeing his father in law, and When Laban the Syrian catches up to him Jacob makes the following statement: I was with you these twenty years. Your ewes and she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten. (Gen 31:38) Gen 31:41 And I have been twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six for your flocks. And you have changed my wages ten times. Since Jacob did not marry his wives Leah and Rachel until after his first seven years of service, and he wanted to leave after Joseph was born, but was persuaded to stay for another six years. Gen 30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. Gen 30:23 And she conceived and bore a son, and she said, God has taken away my reproach. Gen 30:24 And she called his name Joseph. And she said, May Jehovah add another son to me. Gen 30:25 And when Rachel had borne Joseph, it happened that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away so that I may go into my own place and to my country. Gen 30:26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go. For you know my service which I have done you. Gen 31:41 And I have been twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six for your flocks. And you have changed my wages ten times.

So we put all these verses together and we can pin down to a year or two as to the birth year of Judah; as we have seen from my above writings that All the sons of Jacob were born in a seven year time span. Leah gave birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi and then Judah, before any other sons of Jacob were born. This means that they were born at least a year apart from each other, Joseph was the eleventh son born, and Judah was the fourth born.

So Judah had to be born between the years 2193-2196 AC. This makes Judah at the most 6 years older than Joseph, and maybe only three years older.

Joseph was born Approximately in the year 2199 AC (After creation), Jacob had all his sons born within a seven year time span except for Benjamin.

Joseph lived to one hundred and ten years old (Gen. 50: 26). this would put Josephs death in the year 2309, give or take 3 years.

I have created a family tree of the sons Noah in a separate

file. This file goes all the way through to the twelve tribes of

Israel.

Genesis-chapter 23

23

1.Sarah lived one hundred and twenty seven years;
these were the years of the life of Sarah. 11:29-31

Sarah was ten years younger than Abraham, as we are told
in Gen 17:17. Since we know this, and since we also know when Abraham
was born, all we have to do is add ten more years to determine Sarah’s birth date which would be in the year 2028 AC. (After creation), we add to this 127 years and we see that Sarah Died in the year 2155 AC. We can also
determine that Isaac was 37 years of age when his mother died. You can refer to my family tree chart titled: genealogy chart from Noah to Jesus, and you can also see my file titled: Genealogy of Adam to Joseph to see how I came up with these dates.

2 So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is Hebron) in the land
of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to
weep for her. v. 19

This says that Abraham came to Hebron to mourn the
death of Sarah. From the previous chapter we are told that
Abraham settled in Beersheba which from my
understanding is about twenty miles south of Hebron.
Adam Clark s commentary explains the verse this way:

Abraham came to mourn for Sarah – From Gen 22:19 of the preceding chapter it appears that Abraham had settled at Beer-sheba; and here we find that Sarah died at Hebron, which was about twenty-four miles distant from Beersheba. For the convenience of feeding his numerous flocks, Abraham had probably several places of temporary residence, and particularly one at Beer sheba, and another at Hebron; and it is likely that while he sojourned at Beersheba, Sarah died at Hebron; and his coming to mourn and weep for her signifies his coming from the former to the latter place on the news of her death.

3 Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke
to the sons of Heth, saying, 10:15

The sons of Heth referred to here are the descendants of
Heth, who was the son of Canaan,(hence the Canaanites),
And Canaan was the great grandson of Noah.

4 “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me
property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my
dead out of my sight.”

Even though God has promised this land to Abraham and
his descendants, Abraham recognizes that he is
nevertheless still a stranger among the Canaanites, and
does not yet possess the land. Most bible’s translate the
word foreigner with stranger, however the NKJV (which is
the bible I use for my studies), reads “I am a foreigner.”The
reason I am pointing this out is because when I read this
verse it brings to mind Gen 17:8 where God tells Abraham
that the land He promises him and his seed, that he will be
a stranger there. Another reason for Abraham humbling himself to the sons of Heth is a show of respect to the leaders of the Canaanites as would have been the customs of the day.

5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
6 “Hear us, my lord: you are a mighty prince among us;
bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of
us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may
bury your dead.” 13:2; 14:14

The reply from the sons of Heth emphasizes what I had
previously said about the customs of the day The people
pay him respect, and hold Abraham in high esteem
among them, so much so that they consider him a mighty
prince, and say to him that he can have the best burial place
that they have to offer. If you look at the verses that are
being referenced here this will give you a clue as to why
they call him not just a prince, but a mighty prince (Compare Gen 13:2, 14:14-16).

7 Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the
people of the land, the sons of Heth.

Again, even after being called a mighty prince Abraham
bows to the sons of Heth as a show of respect and humility.
We in today’s world could take a page from these verses as
to how we should treat one another in all aspects of our
relationship with each other. What a better world this
would be if we all truly humbled ourselves, from the heart
towards others. To see how Abraham carried himself here
must have been very pleasing to God. Think about it;
Abraham walked and talked with God! The one true God!
And the people knew this from the stories they had heard
about from his time in Egypt, and when he dwelt in the land
of Gerar and king Abimelech. Abraham could have gone the
way of Satan and said to the sons of Heth, “If you do not
give me what I ask for, then I will call my God to destroy
you, and the people probably would have obeyed him. Isn’t
this what the strong have always done to the weak
throughout history up to this very day? We use our power
to get what we want if people don’t do as we say. If we only
had more leaders like Abraham today.

8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I
bury my dead out of my sight, Hear me, and meet with
Ephron the son of Zohar for me,
9 “that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he
has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at
the full price, As property for a burial place among you.”
10 Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron Then the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of
Heth, all who entered the gate of his city saying,
11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave That is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you. Bury your dead!”

Abraham is speaking to the elders of the sons of Heth. He
is asking them if it is okay that he bury his wife Sarah in
their land, and if it be so, would they please speak with
Ephron the son of Zohar; who is a Hittite, on his behalf, to
persuade Ephron to sell the land to Abraham. Ephron, like
Abraham was a very rich man. As we also see in verse ten
that it is described as “the gate of his city” where all this is
taken place. Ephron had no problem in giving the land to
Abraham, however I must make it clear hear that when
Ephron says that he will give Abraham the land, he is not
saying that he will merely give it to him, instead he is really
saying to Abraham, and all the people that are present, that
he is willing to release the property, and hear the offer
Abraham is willing to make for it. This was the customs of
the day for such transactions. This is being done in the
presence of the sons of Heth so there is no dispute in the
future as to Abraham’s claim to the land and his
descendants. The people are basically being a witness and a
mediator between Abraham and Ephron for the transaction taken place.

12 Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land;
13 and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, Saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there. 2 Sam. 24:21-24
14 And Ephron answered Abraham, Saying to him,
15 “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth for hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.”
16 And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, Four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded
18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20 So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

This is the first time in the bible where a financial transaction occurs. I believe the reason God records this in His word (The Bible), is so there is no doubt as to who owns this piece of land. At the time of this transaction we read that this is all done in the site and hearing of the people of the sons of Heth and is recorded (deeded) to Abraham. And the area that is covered in this purchase is well established by the description of it’s boundaries. As we notice the trees are mentioned in this also. through Archeology, Hittite Cuneiform Tablets were discovered that shows the record of business transactions. In these tablets it is recorded that when there were land deeds, the trees are noted in the deed. The discovery of these tablets helps to give credence to the story we are reading here. Now this land was purchased by Abraham to be a burial place for his wife Sarah, himself and his descendants. As we read in Genesis 49:30-32 and Gen 50: 31-32 we see that Isaac and Jacob along with their wives were also buried in these caves. The only exception is Jacobs wife Rachel who died giving birth to Benjamin and was buried in Bethlehem. After I meditated on these scriptures I was curious as to who controls this area of land today. I discovered that in 1998 the Israeli’s turned control of Abraham’s burial place over to what is called a Muslim Waqf. The Waqf in Muslim law basically states that the beneficiaries of land Waqf’s belong to the public and the poor and not by any individual state. The website “United For Israel” describes how the burial place of Abraham and descendants is run today: The “Isaac Hall” serves as a mosque while the “Abraham Hall” and “Jacob Hall” serve as a synagogue. Today, the Muslim Waqf controls over 80% of the building. This includes the whole of the southeastern section, which lies above the only known entrance to the actual cave. As a result, Jews are not permitted to visit the cenotaphs of Isaac or Rebecca, which lie entirely within the southeastern section, except for 10 days a year that hold special significance in Judaism. One of these days is the Shabbat of “Chayei Sara” (usually in November) when the Torah portion concerning the death of Sarah, and the purchase of the Machpela Cave by Abraham, is read. I will end my comments on these verses, with my opinion on who I think should be in complete control of this burial site. First I want to say that it appears to me that the arrangement made in 1998 was strictly a political decision and not based on true christian biblical teachings. I believe this land as well as all the land of Israel belongs to the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, and not to the descendants of Hagar or Ishmael (Abraham’s handmaid and their son). Why do I say this? Both in Judaism and Islam they agree of who is buried there: the descendants of Abraham and Sarah alone. Neither Hagar, Ishmael, or any of their descendants are buried there. Mohammed or any of his descendants are buried there nor any other descendants of Abraham that are of the Muslim faith. To me it is black and white and there are no gray areas as to who this belongs to: the Israeli Nation (The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). In my opinion this is why God made sure that we find this transaction between Abraham and the sons of Heth is recorded in His word, and why He also makes it very clear as to who else is buried there, and who the land belongs to (compare Num 33:50- 54).