Today we see how lying, scheming, and manipulating ruins a family. Starting with Jacob talking Esau, a man driven by the flesh, into selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. “And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
When a famine hits the land, Issac trusts the Lord and doesn’t flee to Egypt as his father Abraham did. However, Issac does follow in the footsteps of his dad by lying to Abimelech about his wife saying that she was his sister for his own protection. 😏 But, the Lord protects Rebekah, as He did with Sarah, and restores her back to Issac. See, God is also growing Issac into a man of great faith like his father Abraham and using his wife in the process.
We see spiritual maturity in Issac when disputes arise with the herdsmen of Gerar over wells they dug. Instead of fighting, Issac trust the Lord and simply keeps moving and digging more wells until the disputes stop. Then Issac says, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” So the Lord blesses Issac saying “‘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 sake.’ So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.”
But later, when Issac falsely assumes that he is dying, Rebekah and Jacob scheme and steal Esau’s blessing from Issac. As a result, Esau wants to kill Jacob so Jacob flees to his uncle Laban’s house (it‘s possible that Jacob never sees his mom again). Rebekah tells Jacob to stay with her brother a few days but it’s 20 years before he comes back home.
Scheming never works out well for anyone and sin always cost more than we want. So currently this family is severely broken but overtime we will see the Lord grow Jacob’s faith and restore the brokenness. However, before that happens, things get a little crazy. More family drama to come and out of all this chaos we will meet the 12 tribes of Israel. (See, all families have problems but no problem is too big for God.) Keep reading!
(Genesis 25:27-28:5)
Chronological Bible in Layman's Terms 