7th January Morning
Genesis 25-26
The first verse in 25 says: Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. How was this man who is still in the marriage business? The guy is over 100yrs but still involved in women affairs. In life, there are people who never give up even when age does not recommend their acts. Why would an old man like Abraham still be involved in the business of who to marry? Perhaps I am applying my modern mindset to the old times. In those days maybe men could still have the sexual urge and drive to marry more and more. It was a culture where the father was marrying and conducting a marriage ceremony on the same date with that of his son or daughter.
I think in life we need to know what to do when and how. You cannot afford to share a wedding ceremony with your mother. It does not make much sense. I know this might be culturally relative but realistically there must be an age distinction and some level of scrutiny on what is suitable generally as opposed to what you want and can. Do not do things in life because you can or just because it is what you want. Stop the ITS MY LIFE SYNDROME. Yes, it is your life but you are living it with us and around us. We cannot afford to be in a family where our 90yrs old father has to marry a teenage friend of his grandchildren. Life is a web and it has unwritten laws that we all should abide by.
Verses 5-6 say: And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 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. This needs no explanation, Abraham was a parent who exercised favoritism among his Children. However, his favoritism can be justified by the inception of the child known as Isaac. Abraham gave everything he had to Isaac because of all the Children he had, Isaac was the heir of all that Abraham was. Isaac was the seed of the innumerable descendants that God had promised him. Parents must not play favoritism and I will talk about this soon, but parents must strategically prepare their children for the purposes they know ahead. As a parent, you must sit down and look through your children and make sure you strategically position each child depending on their purpose. Abraham gave everything to Isaac but to the rest he gave gifts. He who took everything took also took the biggest responsibility of continuing the family of Abraham. Others left and were free to continue their lives wherever they wanted but Isaac was to stay and continue the establishment of Abraham.
As a parent, you must sit down and look through your children and make sure you strategically position each child depending on their purpose. Abraham gave everything to Isaac but to the rest he gave gifts. He who took everything took also took the biggest responsibility of continuing the family of Abraham. Others left and were free to continue their lives wherever they wanted but Isaac was to stay and continue the establishment of Abraham.
We need to organize our children and position them even in our wills and define who will do what, when and where. We must purposefully train our children and prepare them to continue what we have been doing. Abraham wanted a child who was going to extend his relationship with his God, and this could not be done by those kids he had from heathen women. This was a sacred role that could only be effected by the covenant child.
Teach your children your profession, take them with you to your work place, show them your friends, warn them against the family enemies. Give them all the necessary information. Tomorrow you will not be around. Children from different mothers need to be separated in resources, give each what is theirs and let them go. You do not need to leave this in the will to be implemented after your death, just do it while you are still living. Let them be aligned while you are still alive. It is better for them to fight in your sight rather than them to fight and crush your casket. Give everything you have worked for to your children, girls, and boys. Give every family member including your spouse and let them go start their own world while you are still alive.
Now we all know why in this very chapter the genealogies are again revisited. So Isaac continued the family. However, Rebecca suffered barrenness and when God answered the prayer of Isaac, she conceived and was pregnant with twins. However, she conceived fighting twins. These two boys fought while they were still in the womb of their mother, and extended the fight when they were born. It happened that due to their battle, their parents took sides in the battle. The mother took on the side of Jacob, the younger one, and Isaac subscribed to the side of the elder twin. This is how favoritism began in the family of Isaac.
Kathy Kelly put it this way:
“As they grew, their opposite personalities became more pronounced, and Rebekah probably often found herself contemplating God’s promise. Rebekah favored Jacob. As she compared him to his brother, it was easy for Rebekah to allow her love for Jacob to grow stronger and her feelings for Esau to weaken. After all, hadn’t even God said that Jacob would be the favored of the two. Isaac, however, viewed the situation much differently. Esau was a “man’s man,” and Isaac took pride in his abilities as a hunter. Esau was more like Isaac than Jacob”.
This couple was safe and peaceful until they poorly involved themselves in the battles of their children. Sometimes we need to be cautious as we come in the conflict between children. The problem was not that these parents got involved but rather they got involved on a wrong note. They jumped in as supporters of opposing teams, rather than as reconcilers whose only side is family as opposed to personal interests. Rebecca’s justification to fight for Jacob was due to the declaration by god that the younger one will rule the older one. She knew eventually God had ordained that Jacob would overtake Esau. On the other hand, Isaac’s excuse was culture and the traditional norm that always the elder son became the default heir of the family.
Let me start with Isaac. The mistake of the father was that he had forgotten that even himself had not become the heir on terms of age but rather on divine prerogatives. He had suspended and substituted God’s modus operandi with that of the culture and what is socially accepted. Many of us like to conform to this world at the expense of the word of God. We know what the Lord wants us to do, but we deflect it just because it looks awkward and not suitable given our world’s standards. This was the problem. This rigidity on cultural norms led Isaac as a Christian into compromising the will of God and also turned him into a parent who played favoritism among his twin boys.
The issue of Rebecca was an interesting one; this mother was right on paper but wrong in practice. Wow!! Can you believe that sometimes we are right on paper but wrong in practice? This is my best definition of politics. This is what I mean in this scenario. Rebecca was following the promise at birth. God had declared that it was Jacob to overtake his elder brother and therefore he was appointed by God himself. For Isaac to give the inheritance to Esau was going against the will of God and his purpose. So Rebecca decided to protect this and direct the promise and the events to what she knew was the right course. The sin of Rebecca is the sin of Uzah and that of Judah Iscariot. It is a sin of betrayal with a kiss. It is when the sinner is in too much love of the purpose of God than himself. It is when Christians and religious people kill to fulfill the promise and purpose of God. It is when we start taking care of what does not concern us. How Jacob was going to rule Esau was never an assignment for his mother, she just jumped into the business of God. How the ark of the covenant was going to land was never the business of
How Jacob was going to rule Esau was never an assignment for his mother, she just jumped into the business of God. How the ark of the covenant was going to land was never the business of Uzah, How Jesus the messiah was going to be killed had nothing to do with Judah Iscariot. But we become too responsible for what is not our business. And because she got involved, she became a jihadist who was willing to kill even her own blood. She manipulated not only her elder son but also her husband. Favoritism does not only affect the relationship between siblings but also that between the parents. A marriage can break over how love is exercised to its product-children. I can’t say more here.
Chapter 26 records the very things that happened to his father, in the same place for the same reasons, with the same king. Abimelech was the name of alternating kings. This chapter is a dejavu
7th January Evening
Genesis 27-28
If you understood the chapters we have covered so far, you have no difficulty in understanding that the family of Isaac is in tatters. One child has extended his hunting zone from hunting animals to hunting a brother. And the other brother has become a habitual fugitive. The parents who used to have teams to support are left alone and in pain. The only reasons as to why families fall is the very reasons these families begin. They had begun to stay together and it was at this very point that they failed.
The descendants of Esau (the Edomites), became the worst enemies of Israel and all this originates from the choices we make at home. As you are reading this you might be knowing families that have been torn apart over various issues and some family members had to leave home and go and stay with other distant family members. Or perhaps you are the victim of such, or maybe you are the culprit. Whatever that is I am here to tell you that whatever happens, let us all learn to make sacrifices to make sure we stay together. Staying together as a family (if possible) is the most important thing that will ever happen to all of us. We need each other in life.
Families break up for various reasons. Some break up due to finances, people fight for who takes what, or some have given others their money and they fail to pay back. Some literally steal from family members. Some abuse family businesses. You employ your relatives and they bring down the entire business. Some families break due to relationships. Esau and Jacob fought over inheritance but some family members fight over lovers. Sisters fight for a man or brothers cheat on one another’s spouse and the entire family is in chaos. Marrieds might fight over a house-help. Spouses might break-up a marriage over child discipline. Others break up due to in-laws. etc. Whatever the reason, the point is that we must always understand that nothing matters more than FAMILY. Let me ask; HOW IS YOUR FAMILY?
God bless you. I invoke TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, and FAITH.
Am Pr. I.T.White. THE GOSPEL HAWKER
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