Grandpa Isaac and Father Jacob

 Selections from Genesis 21-35

Welcome! Today we begin a new series on the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis, entitled “But the Lord was with Joseph”. With each new series, I ask for God to guide me, to make a timely decision that would help all of us to grow and be encouraged in the Lord. I don’t recall a time that we as a church have had a series focused specifically on the book of Genesis. I do remember a series we did called “Broken Vessels” that, each week, focused on a different important person in the Old Testament. This series from 2009 included single teachings on multiple people in Genesis, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, but in this series, we will spend about three months exploring Joseph in depth. 

 

I believe this series is appropriate and timely for us, for multiple reasons. First, I believe the past few years have been hard for all of us, as we have had to live with the uncertainty of what was going to happen next in a world seemingly gone crazy. In Joseph, we see someone living by faith despite personal hardship as he deals with family rejection, imprisonment, unfair condemnation, and victimhood caused by another’s carelessness. We also see someone living by faith despite a world going crazy, in Joseph’s case, due to severe famine. Now some of us come from much better family situations than others, but none of us come from perfect families, including the younger ones here, as none of us older ones are perfect parents. Joseph also teaches us about coming to terms with the failings of our families and overcoming them by the Lord’s help. Although these lessons, like all lessons from the Bible, are timeless, of value for all people at all times, I do think that they are perhaps especially valuable for us now.

   

Today’s message is entitled “Grandpa Isaac and Father Jacob”. Now it is important to understand that in the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are considered the big three “founding fathers” of the faith. God repeatedly refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the first five books of the Bible, and the phrase is often used by Jews to describe God even to this day. We see Peter use this phrase when addressing the crowd after healing a beggar who was lame, unable to walk. Here is what he says:

 

“Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over to be killed, and you disowned Him before Pilate, though He had decided to let Him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” – Acts 3:12-16

 

Our new series focuses on Joseph, not on Jacob and Isaac, but there is no question that the lives of “Father Jacob” and “Grandpa Isaac” (and even the life of “Great-Grandpa Abraham”) had significant bearing on the events of Joseph’s life. Each of us is significantly influenced by the people that raised us, and to a lesser extent, by the people who raised those who raised us.

 

You may wonder how your grandparents or even earlier generations can influence your life. The Bible tells us that this is so, as it says in Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9.  Each say that God “visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations.”

 

Now, I do not think this means that God punishes people for sins that are not their own. In fact, the Bible says directly that the opposite is true:

 

The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. – Ezek. 18:20

 

So how do we interpret this idea that God visits the iniquity of the fathers on future generations? I believe it means that sin has intergenerational consequences. And even the secular world knows this to be true. You can look at crime data, abuse data, and so on, and see that the degree of dysfunction or abuse in a family has, statistically speaking, significant impact on the trajectories of future generations. And this makes sense logically – children who do not get to grow up in a loving, healthy family are damaged by these experiences. They tend to find coping mechanisms, either hardening themselves, or seeking unhealthy escapes for their pain, and, not knowing what a loving, healthy family life is like, are more likely to repeat the harmful patterns on their own children.

 

This is not to say that every child from a dysfunctional family suffers serious consequences in their own lives, and passes it on to the next generation, but it is more likely. On the flip side, people who grow up in God-fearing, healthy family environments are more likely to themselves be Christ followers and pass on good things to their children. But at the same time, it too is no guarantee. Each person is an individual, and sometimes, people from great families still choose to reject God and reap a lifetime of painful consequences.

 

I have mentioned this before, but my mother struggled with anger and with alcoholism, and I can see that is has had significant effects on my life and the life of my sister. My father did not have any of these particular issues, but he was somewhat emotionally distant, and I still struggle with this issue. My parents were not believers, and so I feel like, given this fact, they did a good job instilling good values in me – I know that my family life could have been 1000 times worse, and that countless people have had dramatically worse experiences growing up than I did. Yet, I also know that I see patterns between my parents’ struggles and my own.

 

Now, I don’t know exactly why my mother had the issues she had growing up, but our entire family was shocked when her father, my grandfather, passed away, and it came out that he had secretly had an affair with someone, had a child with her, and basically lived a double life for decades. The way the family found out was that the Social Security payments were too low after my grandfather’s death, and the reason for this was that the woman he had had this affair with had also filed for Social Security.  I could say a lot more, but we’ll leave it there. Did this behavior directly cause my mom to have the issues she had? I have no way of knowing, but it would not surprise me.

 

Today I want to look a bit at Joseph’s family. God calling Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a big deal. In some ways it reminds me of how, years ago, the Kennedys were viewed as an almost mythical family in America, often described as “America’s royal family.” Yet their family was filled with stories of tragedy and dysfunction. What about the family of Joseph?

 

Well, Joseph was the 11^th of Jacob’s twelve sons. There was more than one mom here; along with youngest son Benjamin, Joseph’s mom was Rachel. Now, I would say that the key defining event of Joseph’s life was what his brothers did to him out in the desert. If you haven’t looked at the account in a while, or you tend to remember the children’s storybook version, you might think that his brothers plotted to sell him as a slave to Egypt, but that is not what happened. They plotted to kill him, to actually kill their own brother. If it were not for Reuben, the oldest brother, they certainly would have killed him. As it was, Reuben only convinced them to throw him into a cistern that he could not get out of, one without water, and to abandon him there to die a slow “indirect” death due to exposure and lack of water. And this is what would have happened if it were not for Judah, the fourth oldest, who suggested that if they were going to get rid of Joseph, they might as well make a little money for it, leading to them selling him as a slave to Ishmaelites heading to Egypt.

 

If you have grown up hearing the children’s storybook versions, you may have not really stopped to think about how utterly horrible this is! The phrase “dysfunctional family” does not begin to do justice to this situation. This is the stuff of “true crime” documentaries, not the blessed royal family implied by God’s chosen description of Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!

 

And in case you didn’t notice the further irony, who bought Joseph? Ishmaelites, that is, descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael. The extremely messy and sometimes ugly family relationships of great-grandpa Abraham come back to affect Joseph in an unimaginable way.

 

Now, I am not saying that there was nothing good about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As we have just seen in the book of Hebrews, each is commended for their faith in God. Hebrews has a lot more to say about Abraham’s actions of faith than it does about Isaac and Jacob. But there is no question that at least at certain points of their lives, each person did indeed trust God, believe in His promises, and act on those beliefs. But at the same time, each also did multiple things their own way, apart from God, and in terms of what they did in their families, each really made a mess and caused great harm.

 

Let’s look at the account of Isaac and his children from Genesis 25:

 

This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. – Gen. 25:19-22

 

To Isaac’s great credit, he went to the Lord with this issue. The Lord answered the prayer by providing Rebekah with twins! As we know, there are many couples who wish to have children and are unable to. As with many challenges in this life, we do not often know the reasons that God permits this, but we do know that God always hears our prayers, and He also answers them, although His answer may be “No.” Today there are many options for those who cannot have children, including medical intervention, adoption, and serving in the foster care system. How a couple responds to this challenge is a highly individualized decision, hopefully guided by prayer and counsel. 

 

In the Old Testament, it is clear that the cultural perspective was that to be unable to have children was a source of shame, perhaps a result of some secret sin. But God never seems to promote this view, not on an individualized basis. He does threaten infertility to an entire people who are rebellious, but that is a different situation. Most often, God seems to use infertility among individuals as an opportunity to show His mercy and kindness to those who truly seek Him. Infertility also seems to be linked to children who are to have a major role in God’s story, leading up to and perhaps foreshadowing the ultimate miracle when Mary conceives the Lord Jesus despite never having been with a man.  

 

Now, upon God’s blessing of twins, it is Rebekah who turns to the Lord, wanting to know if there is a special meaning in this blessing. From the narrative, it seems that Rebekah does not know she has twins; she only knows that there is an excessive amount of movement in her belly. 

 

The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” – Gen. 25:23

 

The prophecy was reasonably clear about their being twins, but I am sure the rest of the prophecy was much less clear.

 

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. – Gen. 25:24-26

 

Isaac was not young! He had married Rebekah at age 40, so they remained childless for 20 years. The situation is not as extreme as what happened to Abraham and Sarah, but 20 years is an extremely long time. Now, there was seemingly a tradition to name children after events or physical characteristics. Today, I think psychology would say this is a bad idea, particularly if the characteristics could be perceived as negative. I don’t know if they knew this back then, or even if a name had the same cultural connotation then as it does now. I know that until recently there were some cultures, for example in China, where people would name their children names like “Ugly” because they feared evil spirits and thought that the evil spirits would leave unwanted children alone.

 

Now Esau probably means “hairy,” and it seems that Esau remained quite hairy throughout his life. Jacob means “he grasps the heel,” but this is apparently an idiom for “deceiver.” Jacob did turn out to be quite a deceiver, and so the name unfortunately was prophetic. Did either name affect the children negatively? We simply do not know.

 

The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. – Gen. 25:27-28

 

Here, now, we have a clear indication that something is not right. We are to love all of our children, and to show obvious favoritism of one child over another is a pretty sure way to end up with serious issues later. Each child will become jealous of the particular parent’s higher affection to the other, and as a result, each child may come to resent the other (which is what seems to happen here). I would add that Isaac particularly bothers me in that he is letting his stomach dictate his affection.  It also seems to me that the fact that Isaac and Rebekah have different favorites means that the parents were also in conflict with each other.

 

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. – Gen. 25:29-34

 

Edom means “red.” Esau had the birthright because he was the firstborn. We do not for sure know what the birthright exactly entailed, but later in the Law we see that the firstborn would normally get a double share of the inheritance. It may be that the birthright was that additional share. Now there is no question that Esau was foolish to give up his birthright for a single meal, even if you couldn’t call for pizza delivery back then. But I want to instead focus on Jacob. Is this appropriate behavior? Is this how you should treat your brother? Of course not. It is clear that there is a lot of resentment between the two brothers, but Jacob’s action, once Esau realizes what he has done, will only increase dramatically. 

 

To see where this leads, let’s jump ahead to the end of Genesis chapter 26.

 

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. – Gen. 26:34-35

 

I include this passage because it shows that Isaac was not happy with Esau in that he was choosing foreign women, and presumably, they were drawing Esau away from the faith of Isaac. Despite Isaac’s weaknesses, he did have faith. Yet, as we are about to see, he still intended for his greatest blessing to go to Esau.

 

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to 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.” – Gen. 27:1-4

 

Was Isaac being governed by his stomach, much like Esau? It is possible. It is also possible that Esau’s earlier weakness that led to his giving up the birthright was behavior copied from Isaac.

 

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.” – Gen. 27:5-10

 

So here we have a continuation of the fact that the parents are not unified. Not only do they have different favorites, Rebekah even plots and schemes against Isaac. Again, this is a terrible family dynamic. Esau and Isaac are fully grown adults at this time, but it again indicates issues that probably affected the children when they were younger.

 

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” – Gen. 27:11-13

 

Is this a good and appropriate response for a full-grown man? No. A good response would have been to say that his father had a right to choose whoever he wished to bless, and to say that he will not trick his father whatever she says. But instead, his concern is not that this is wrong, but that he will be found out. I am also disturbed by his wording when he says “I would appear to be tricking him.” Appear to be tricking him? No, you would be tricking him! 

 

So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. – Gen. 27:14-17

 

He went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” “The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied. – Gen. 27:18-20

 

This is the worst behavior we have seen. Beyond the deception and outright lie as to who he is, he lies about God! Some would classify this behavior as a form of blasphemy. I am also concerned about Isaac’s wording, which is in the Hebrew. He indeed describes God as “the Lord your God,” not as “the Lord my God” or “the Lord our God”. This implies that Jacob sees God as someone his father serves, but he does not.

 

Isaac is still not sure it is Esau, perhaps because of his voice. After additional questioning, and touching Isaac, tasting the food, and smelling his clothes, he finally becomes convinced. Here is the blessing:

 

May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” – Gen. 27:28-29

 

At this point, despite all the issues with Isaac, he still is to be commended for his faith, in giving this blessing fully believing that the Lord would honor his request. And indeed, Hebrews 11 brings this out. I think this blessing may have been a prophetic utterance – that is, the speaker didn’t know in advance or control the content of the messages. I think that they yielded to the Spirit of God in the same way that the prophets did later on in Israel’s history.

 

But as for Jacob, although he is successful in the sense that he actually received the blessing, his trickery has huge consequences in the relationship with his brother, and as I would argue with what we will see about Joseph, his future family. The passage goes on to have Esau return with his prepared game. At this, Isaac realizes that he has been tricked, but it is too late; the utterance has been made.  

 

Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” – Gen. 27:36-37

 

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” – Gen. 27:38-40

 

I believe that if the utterance given to Jacob was prophetic in nature, then this hard statement too was a prophetic as well. 

 

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” – Gen. 27:41

 

And so we see the consequences of Jacob’s deception. Based on his mother’s advice, Jacob then flees to her brother Laban, a long journey estimated to be 500 miles in length. During his journey, Jacob had with the Lord through a dream, and he was told that he would receive the blessing promised to Abraham. Jacob committed himself to the Lord there. Jacob made his way to Laban, and lived with him for many years, separated from his parents and his angry brother.

 

I share this account today because I believe it is relevant when we look at the family dynamics that evolve in the account of Joseph. Understanding the past gives us greater impact into what is to come.

 

This passage can be somewhat depressing if we think on our own lives and see areas where we are negatively affected by things in our past, and perhaps even more discouraging, for those of us who are parents, is the thought that things we do wrong, or poorly, with raising our children can have long term effects on them as well.

 

But I would remind you that in Christ, everything changes. From 2 Corinthians 5:

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Cor. 5:17-21

 

This is profoundly good news! Not only are we no longer victims of our past, programmed by what happened to those before us, but we are also agents of God, offering the good news of Jesus Christ to those who have been hurt by others and even those whom we have hurt. We may know people who are estranged from their families, or from friends, or even former spouses, but even more importantly, we certainly know people who are estranged from God.

 

The secret to reconciliation with other people is to first experience reconciliation with God. We are powerless to change our “programming” apart from Christ, who makes us new. And so, as we close, I encourage you to think about two categories of people: First, think about people that you have a rift with, people that have hurt you or that you have hurt. Can you pray for them? If you cannot, pray that God would bring you newness of heart so that, in Him, you can. Also, if God puts on your heart an action He would have you take that could help to heal the rift, commit to Him that you will try it, and during our lunch together, tell someone what you have committed to the Lord to do.

 

Second, think about people you know that are separated from God. Yes, pray for them, but beyond this, pray for you that, as Christ’s ambassador, God would use you as one of the mechanisms, one of the instruments, by which God makes His appeal to them. And during lunch, tell someone who the Lord brought to your mind, so that the person you tell can pray for you and, if appropriate, gently keep you accountable to do what you have purposed to do.

 

As we shall see, healing the rifts between Joseph and his family was probably the hardest thing Joseph had to do, harder than enduring prison, harder than being falsely accused, harder than being neglected and forgotten. I pray that as we spend these next few months exploring in detail the life of Joseph, God would change relationship after relationship after relationship, and in the coming months we would have many stories of God’s miraculous healing and reconciliation, with others, and with Him.