Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends, as we begin a new week together,
I wonder what you have seen in ‘sibling rivalry’… either in your family or the families of your friends? “Sibling rivalry” can be brutal, am I right? When you look closely, what do you see is normally the driving motivation for ‘brutal sibling rivalry’? I have found, almost always, it is competition for the approval and love of parents. That’s why when children perceive their parents favor one child over another, there is envy, bitterness between the children. Yesterday we ended our reflections peering into the family dynamic of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob through this one statement: “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (Genesis 25:28) These twins, who could have been best friends, became first competitors and then enemies, primarily because of the conflicting love of their parents. Esau knew his mother loved his brother more. Jacob knew his brother Esau was his father’s favorite son. Oh my, what a mess.
In the next few verses of Genesis 25 you’ll see Esau came in from a long day of work in the fields and was famished. His brother Jacob was cooking a wonderful lentil stew. “Sibling rivalry” kicked in and Jacob bartered a big bowl of delicious stew for his brother’s firstborn birthright! Ridiculous you say? Well my friends, it’s a picture of how we can make foolish, disastrous decisions when our appetites are out of control.
Uncontrolled financial appetites (greed) can drive us to make very risky investments or even gambling, which too often leads to great loss.
Uncontrolled power appetites (pride) can lead us to deceive or manipulate others which can often lead to loss of friends and respect.
Uncontrolled sexual appetites (lust) can lead us to pornography addictions or adultery or pedophilia and will almost always lead to total loss of integrity, family, friends, employment and very often will lead to prison.
Are you able to control your appetites? How many scars do you carry in your life from terrible decisions you’ve made resulting from your inability to control your appetites?
Time passed, tensions increased in the tents of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. The record says “When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri, the Hittite and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.“ (Genesis 26:34,35) Oh my, that hurts my heart, how about you? Fortunately grandfather Abraham had been dead for many years, so he didn’t see the pain in his family. I’m confident Isaac had told his boys the story of Abraham sending a servant several hundred miles to find his wife Rebekah from their homeland, with clear instructions to NOT bring a wife to Isaac from the idol worshiping peoples who lived around them. Do you suppose Esau chose these two wives intentionally to hurt his parents? What do you suppose Jacob learned as he watched the family relationships continue to erode into family discord and division?
My friends, there are some really important lessons to learn about how to ruin a family, God has put together, here in Isaac’s family. Do you see them? I see no evidence Isaac led his family in regular worship of God, as Abraham had done. I see no example of Isaac telling his family the great stories of God’s covenant with his father Abraham and all the miraculous things God did in his family.
When parents do NOT live Psalm 78:1-7 and Psalm 145:1-7, the children grow up with little to no understanding of God’s greatness, His majesty, and His sovereign involvement in the family. When that happens and the children become teens and young adults, they have little motivation to seek to know God or follow God. Do you see this happening in your city, perhaps even your extended family and friends?
Years passed and the record says: “When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak they could no longer see, he called for Esau, his older son…and said to him, ‘I am now an old man and I don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons, your quiver and bow, and go out to the open country and hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” (Genesis 27:1-4) This was a strategic, historic moment in the family. Esau had already sold his birthright, his ‘first born inheritance’, to his brother Jacob for a bowl of stew, many years before. There was no undoing that terrible mistake. In that culture, at that time, the firstborn portion of the estate was often double or triple that of the other son if there were only two boys in the family.
When it came to dividing up the estate, at Isaac’s death, Esau knew the much larger portion, his rightful portion as firstborn, was going to his younger brother Jacob, because of a foolish decision made in the passion of an uncontrolled appetite one day, many years ago. All Esau had left would be his father’s blessing which because of their very special love relationship, he anticipated would be a wonderful blessing. Oh yes, he knew his father was disappointed in his selection of two Hittite women to be his wives, but I’m sure Esau was hoping the depth of their father-son friendship was still very strong and he would be receiving a great blessing.
Sadly, the record shows us something terrible about this family and the envy, discord, jealousy which was dividing both Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage relationship and the relationship of the twin boys. In the next verses you’ll see a terrible plan of deception was developed by Rebekah who had overheard her husband Isaac’s conversation with their son Esau. Rebekah also had an uncontrollable appetite… to see her favorite son Jacob receive as much of the family inheritance and blessing as possible, even if it meant deceiving her nearly blind husband and pouring gasoline on the already flaming ‘sibling rivalry’ between her twin boys. I urge you to listen to the dramatic audio Bible version of this chapter when finished today, you’ll see the link at the bottom of this page.
Jacob questioned his mother’s deceptive plan, concerned that his father Isaac would surely know he was being deceived, either by the sound of Jacob’s voice or the feel of his smooth skin. But Rebekah was determined and she said these words: “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say…” (Genesis 27:13) There is only one other time in the Bible history that I find a mother teaching her son to do evil. Her name was Athalia, mother of Ahaziah, one of the wicked kings of Israel. This is what 2 Chronicles 22:3 says “…his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD…”
I’m led to stop right here today my friends, and ask you to ponder the culture of this divided, envious family of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. Is it in any way similar to your family? “Sibling rivalry” between twin boys was exploding in this family because their parents each had a favorite son and they didn’t hide it! We can only imagine how many times Isaac and Rebekah disagreed, out loud in front of the boys, about everything, but especially about how things were going in their family. Right now Esau is out hunting wild game to make his father’s favorite meal, so he and his dad Isaac can enjoy this meal together and then he will receive his father’s blessing poured over his favorite son. But Rebekah has Jacob convinced that if he does everything, just as his mother shows him, he’ll be able to deceive his father, bring him a great meal, and steal his brother Esau’s blessing. Oh my, what a disaster is brewing! And it’s brewing in the miracle family of Abraham’s covenant with God! How could this be happening my friends?
Many years later the apostle Paul wrote something powerful which explains what was happening here in Isaac’s family. Paul wrote: “…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the…powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms…” (Eph. 6:12) Isaac’s family was being ripped apart by spiritual warfare. Satan and his dark kingdom was determined to disrupt God’s Covenant plan for Abraham and Sarah to be miracle parents to an entire nation of people known as God’s chosen people, who would be a great blessing to the world as they live in obedient relationship with God. Into this family would one day be born the Savior of the world, Jesus!
Satan would stop at nothing to prevent that from happening, including fueling ‘sibling rivalry’ to rip this family apart. Did Satan use the same tactic in your family? How has it affected you and your siblings? Has Jesus rescued you from this my friends? Or maybe Satan is using some other family dividing, relationship destroying tactics in your family. What are they and how are you defending your family against these attacks? Let’s spend some time right now praying for our families!
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 25:29-27:13.
Choose below to read or listen.
Genesis 25
Genesis 26
Genesis 27
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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