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"BIBLE IN PICTURES"--Chapter Four--"THE LIFE OF ISAAC!" and "JACOB AND ESAU!"--Father David 1962 DFO 732
(Transcribed, Edited & Prepared by: Beriah & Beth Wire.)
© Copyrighted Sept. 1978 by the Family of Love C.P. 748, 00100 Rome, Italy.
HERE'S ABRAHAM STILL LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TIME WHEN HE SHOULD BE MADE A GREAT NATION.--He talked to the Lord a great deal.
1. HERE WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST TESTS OF FAITH ANY MAN EVER HAD: when he took his won Isaac up he top of Mount Moriah.
2. HERE IS A PICTURE OF MOUNT MORIAH. See the Dome in the distance there.
3. THE DOME OF THE ROCK ALSO CALLED THE MOSQUE OF OMAR, has a very interesting story. I don't know whether the book tells it here or not--about the great Sultan Omar of the Arabs.
600 YEARS AFTER CHRIST MOHAMMEDANISM SWEPT OVER THE WORLD. It nearly conquered all of Europe, and the Mohammedans conquered Jerusalem. The temple had lain in ruins for hundreds of years, ever since the Romans had destroyed it after the time of Christ--it had been lying in ruins for over 500 years.
WELL THIS GREAT SULTAN OMAR OFFERED TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE for the Jewish people. They said, "No, according to Bible prophecy, you cannot rebuild it; it must be built at a certain time, in a certain way and by the edict of"--as they thought it was going to be--"the Messiah." But we find out according to God's Word, through more thorough study, that it is by edict of the Antichrist that they are allowed to rebuild the temple--because he gives back the temple ground to the Jews.--And they are allowed to rebuild the temple at that time and restore the temple worship and so on--during the reign of the Anti-christ.
SINCE THEY REFUSED TO LET SULTAN OMAR BUILD THEM A TEMPLE, he decided, "Well, this spot is very sacred to us also, as we are also descendents of Abraham. Therefore, we are going to build a temple of our own here!" So they built this Mohammedan mosque--the Mosque of Omar, as it's called, or the Dome of the Rock--which covers what?
4. THE BIG ROCK HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR. It's on top of Mount Moriah--upon which Isaac was sacrificed, or started to be sacrificed, and which later, by the way, became the base of the temple altar. The rock is in the middle of the floor of this very beautiful mosque--if you can see all that beautiful inlay of mosaic work, all the way around inside it. The Mohammedans have some very beautiful mosques.
SO THE LORD LET THIS SPOT, in this particular case, be kept and preserved and hallowed in spite of many centuries of various political activity and wars and whatnot--because He knows that eventually, from what we can gather in the Bible prophecy, that the temple will be rebuilt on this spot.
5. THIS IS A PHOTO OF THE ROCK, which later became the foundation of the temple altar. After Isaac started to be sacrificed there, this became the usual place where they had their sacrifices; and where later on when the first temple was built, and the second temple, and then even Herod's Temple, this rock was the foundation upon which the altar was built. It still was the hallowed spot where they still did the sacrificing all those years.
6. OF COURSE, YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ABRAHAM STARTED TO SACRIFICE HIS SON? He was prevented from doing so. It was just a test by the Lord to see if he would be willing to do so!
THE LORD SAID, "THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL PROVIDE A LAMB!" Incidentally, that's a very prophetic statement, because He wasn't speaking just of the ram caught in the thicket. He said, "The Lord Himself shall provide a lamb," and who was that going to be? That was going to be Jesus! Well, for years many people thought, "Well, that's just the ram that's caught in the thicket." Well, actually He was talking of the future sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, for our sins--of whom Isaac was in a sense a type. Isaac was a foreshadowing, a type and in a sense, Abraham typified the Lord sacrificing His Son Jesus!
I DON'T KNOW WHETHER YOU NOTICED THAT PASSAGE OR NOT--IT SHOWED THAT ABRAHAM DID HAVE FAITH, As Paul says later on, even if Isaac had to have been raised up from the very ashes of the fire, he had faith that God was going to bring Isaac back to life--because when he left the donkeys down at the foot of the hill--did you ever notice what he said to the servants? He said, "The lad and I will return to thee!" So even if he slew his son up there, he expected God to raise him up again and bring him back to life once again!
7. HERE WE ARE AT BEERSHEBA AGAIN.
8. THEY THEN WENT BACK TO HEBRON.
9. THIS IS THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH--that big building there.
10. HERE IS THE MOSQUE OF MACHPELAH, over the Cave of Machpelah--where Abraham was later buried, as you recall, and where also Sarah was buried.
11. HERE'S AN ARTIST'S CONCEPTION OF THE WAY THEY BURIED THEM in those days--like a mausoleum, in crypts.
12. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN THAT MOSQUE--which was not allowed, but they took it secretly when they were installing the electrical system--and that's supposed to be the tomb of Abraham there.
13. NOW THE BIGGEST CONCERN THAT ABRAHAM HAD before he died was what? To get a wife for his son Isaac. So where did he send for a wife? He sent all the way from Canaan to Haran. Who did he send? Faithful servant Eleazar.
INCIDENTALLY, THIS IS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL TYPOLOGY in God Word: In this case, again Abraham is a type of God; Eleazar is a type of the Holy Spirit, and Isaac is a type of Christ. Who became Isaac's bride? Rebekah--the beautiful bride was a type of the Church. This is like a pretty picture that God was painting of His relationship with us the Church. He sent his faithful servant Eleazar into a distant country to get a bride, even as He has sent His Holy Spirit into this world to secure a Bride for Christ--the Church.
14. WE FIND OUT SHE WAS AN INDUSTRIOUS GIRL, and she was a helpful girl, a kind-hearted girl.
15. ELEAZAR PRAYED FOR A SIGN, you remember? What was she supposed to do? "To give him and his camels to drink also."
16. SURE ENOUGH, HE MET THE BEAUTIFUL GIRL REBEKAH AH.
17. SHE POURED OUT WATER FOR THE CAMELS AND GAVE HIM DRINK. He said, "Lord, thank You for giving me the token, the sign--that's what I asked for. That's the girl."
18. HE DIDN'T WASTE ANY TIME, DID HE? He went right straight back to her father's house.
19. HE BARGAINED FOR HER, and in those days it was the custom to give a generous gift to the bride and also to the father of the bride--almost a matter of selling the girl. He just almost literally bought Rebekah. But of course, they still left it up to Rebekah, to her free choice. She didn't have to go as a slave--remember, they asked her if she wanted to go? "Yes, I will go!" she said.
20. THIS IS WHERE ABRAHAM WAS LIVING AT THIS TIME.
21. SO THAT'S WHERE THE OLD STORY COMES: Isaac lifted up his eyes and behold, what? The camels were coming! That's a very famous story. Eleazar brought Rebekah to Abraham for his approval.
22. WE'RE NOW IN THE 25TH CHAPTER OF GENESIS, and in the 7th and 8th verses it tells about the death of Abraham, at the ripe old age of 175--that was a long time to live! Abraham died at the age of 175. He had two sons--one was Ishmael, the oldest by Hagar, and one was Isaac, the younger by his wife Sarah. His sons both came back for the funeral.
23. HE WAS BURIED HERE IN THE CITY OF HEBRON IN ISRAEL. It was called Hebron after his ancestors. Remember, they were called Hebrews?--And this was called Hebron after his forefathers and his great-grandfather who was called Heber.
24. HERE'S THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH, AND THIS IS HIS TOMB. Today a Mohammedan mosque covers this tomb, and no Christians are allowed to visit here. This photograph was taken secretly by a crew of electricians, who where putting in the lighting system. This is the tomb of Abraham--it's a big cave. Remember how the Bible tells he was buried in a cave?
THE MOHAMMEDANS HAVE BUILT A MOSQUE OVER THE CAVE, and his tomb has been preserved to this very day. Jews are not allowed to go in, Christians are not allowed in, only Mohammedans are allowed to go in--because the Moslems control it. They built this mosque over it and therefore, it is theirs and their property.
AS WE HAVE BEEN STUDYING, THE MOHAMMEDANS ARE ISHMAELITES--they are sons of Abraham. The Moslems are the same as the Jews, only they're of a different line. You see, the Arabs, who are Moslems, came from Ishmael; the Jews came from Israel through Isaac. So you see, really the Arabs and the Jews are half-brothers! But because Isaac the younger brother was chosen, it made Ishmael very jealous--and there's been bitter enmity between the Arabs and the Jews for many years. It seems like they have more fights in families, sometimes, than they do outsiders. It's a family fight!--So they wont let any Christians or Jews in--just the Mohammedans!
25. AFTER THIS, WE FIND THAT ISAAC WENT BACK TO LAHAI-ROI--out towards the desert. And we find Ishmael went back down into Arabia, and his descendants became the Arabians.
26. HERE'S A WELL OUT IN THE DESERT THERE.
27. ISHMAEL WENT DOWN NEAR HAVILAH, going toward Egypt. Over here is the mouth of the River Nile in Egypt. This was the delta land of the Nile, the land of Goshen--where the Children of Israel later on became slaves under Pharaoh.
28. HERE'S A DESCENDENT OF ISHMAEL--he is an Arab, and his religion is probably what? Mohammedan. You can tell by the bandoleers around his chest that the Scripture has come true, that prophesied that his descendants would be what? A warlike people--they would live by the sword!
SO THE ARABS HAVE ALWAYS LIVED BY THE SWORD EVER SINCE, and the Arab religion Mohammedanism has been spread by the sword. They forced people to accept their religion. They said, You accept Mohammed or we cut your head off!" So of course, they accepted Mohammed--that was one way of getting converts! It was pretty easy to get people to accept Mohammed, if they lost their heads if they didn't! So they still live by the sword and they still are pretty wild fellows in most of those areas--only in recent years have some of them kind of settled down.
29. HERE'S ANOTHER ANCIENT SON OF ISHMAEL--an old philosopher of the desert--they're wise old men. Incidentally, these Arabs preserved much great learning. We find that the Moslems came across North Africa and then into Spain. What were they called in Spain? The Moors came into Spain, and they brought with them the Arabian system of numbers that we use to this very day.
--ALL OF OUR FIGURES WERE INVENTED BY THE ARABIANS, these Ishmaelites, children of Abraham, and also many things about astronomy and many things about reading and writing. They were very brilliant men, very intelligent.
30. THEY LIVED OUT ON THE DESERT, as you can see here. These are actual photographs of the lands where all this took place. These are actual photos of the country where these things happened that make it a little more real for the children, to help them understand.
31. THIS IS THE WAY THEY LIVED IN ABRAHAM'S DAY. They lived in tents just like this, and many people still live just like this--just like they did in Abraham's day! In tents made of camel's hair and goats' skins and so on.
32. ONLY TODAY THEY DON'T RIDE THE CAMEL QUITE AS MUCH as they used to, they're getting a little more mechanised--those that can afford it, get jeeps.
33. HERE'S AN ARTIST'S PICTURE. I don't think this is a very good representation, but this is supposed to be Jacob and Esau--Isaac's two sons. This was made many years later, probably by some European artist that didn't know history very well, because God's Word says that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived in tents all the days of their lives.
ABRAHAM'S SON ISAAC HAD TWO BOYS. What was kind of unusual about the two of them? Which one was the oldest? They were twins, but one of them was actually older than the other one--which one was that? Esau was actually born first. They were twins, but Esau was born first, by just a few minutes and then came Jacob.
THE OLDEST SON ALWAYS HAD PREDOMINANCE. He was the head of the house after the father died. He would inherit the larger share of the wealth and only a smaller portion would be given to the other children. So it was very important to be the oldest son! He got the wealth, he got the blessing and he had the authority to run the house.
ESAU WAS BORN FIRST but we find out something very unusual happened. Esau was a red-headed man and very hairy, and he was a pretty wild fellow. He liked to go hunting and fishing and he liked to roam the plains. He wasn't very settled down, he didn't like to plow and plant and grow things.
BUT JACOB LIKED TO PLOW and he stayed at home and watched the flocks--he was more settled down. It seemed to me that Esau's life must have been a lot more fun, poor Jacob had to stay home and work most of the time. Jacob was always sure of getting something to eat, anyhow--he had a steady job. But Esau sometimes didn't make a kill, he didn't make a good hunt and so he'd come back very hungry.
THIS TIME, THAT THE PICTURE'S SUPPOSED TO ILLUSTRATE, HE COMES BACK, HE DIDN'T GET ANYTHING IN THE HUNT--couldn't find anything and he didn't have any meat to eat. Jacob may not have been wild or a very good hunter, but Jacob was a smart boy! So he says, "Well, I'll tell you what--sell me your birthright!"
THE BIRTHRIGHT WAS THE AUTHORITY TO HAVE THE RULE OF THE HOUSEHOLD AND INHERIT MOST OF THE WEALTH. He said, "Sell me your birthright and I'll give you a mess of this pottage I'm cooking."--Some oatmeal or whatever it was, a kind of gruel he was cooking--a vegetable stew or something.
ESAU DIDN'T THINK IT MEANT ANYTHING, he was so hungry he didn't care! So he said, "Sure, my birthright won't do me any good if I die right now from hunger!" I don't think he was about to begin to die--he just thought he was dying, he was so hungry. He said, "Well, what good would it do me, anyhow, if I died? Give me that pottage and take the birthright!"
WELL, LATER ON ESAU MUST'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT, because he acted like he didn't even remember that it ever happened! He probably told Jacob later on, after he got full, "Oh, I was just kidding!" But does God take you at your word? God takes you at your word! He says don't utter even an idle word, not even an idle word! He takes you at your word! Your words are important!
IT'S IMPORTANT WHAT WE SAY! It's important when we give our word, when we promise! Esau had given his word and though afterwards he probably said, "I was just kidding, I didn't really mean it!"--God heard him! See, God took him at his word and God held him to it! He had forfeited his birthright; he had given up his birthright.
ESAU ALSO IS A FOREBEARER OF THE ARABS because his seed and the Ishmaelites mingled together. The combination seed as the Ishmaelites, the Edomites the sons of Esau, the Moabites the sons of Lot, the Ammonites also the sons of Lot, the Keturites the sons of Abraham by Keturah, and the sons of Moses by another wife that he had later on, all of them mixed there in Arabia and they became the Arabians. They were all descended from Abraham and they were all related--so the Jews and the Arabs are still related to this very day. That's why they fight over the Homeland--because it was the homeland of both of them. Israel was the homeland of both the Jews and the Arabs.
WE HAVE GUESTS HERE TONIGHT; we have Rosa back again, God bless her. Rosa is named after Mohammed and she was a Mohammedan. By the way, Rosa's nickname Nisha comes from the Arabic word Esau. She is a literal flesh-and-blood descendent of Ishmael and Esau. These descendants of Ishmael and Esau always quarrel with the descendants of Jacob.
34. THIS IS PICTURE 34. WE FIND THAT THEY HAD TO MOVE. They were always having a lack of rain every now and then in Israel, remember? So once in a while they would have to move. They were actually living around here in this area of Hebron and in the fertile plains on this side of the mountains. The mountains run right down the middle here about halfway between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
THESE MOUNTAINS WERE RIGHT IN HERE, AND MOST OF THE TIME THEY LIVED ON THE EASTERN SLOPE of these mountains. Now and then they would have a drought and no rain--so they would have to cross through the mountains with their herds. They'd go on the western slope, which was always well-watered--because it got the first rains before the clouds crossed the mountains, just like the coast of California.
IN FACT, THEY SAY THAT ISRAEL IS VERY MUCH LIKE CALIFORNIA. It has the same type of climate and the same type of rainfall. My wife's aunt, who lived in Israel for eight years, said that if you'd sat her down in California away from all civilisation that she wouldn't be able to tell whether she was in Israel or in California--because they're so much alike.
WELL, THEY HAD TO GO OVER TO GERAR because of the famine. They stayed there for a little while and then they came back again.
THIS IS THE FERTILE, WELL-WATERED PLAIN, as you can see by this stream, on the western side of the mountains of Israel along the coastal plain--part of which is, incidently, the Plain of Sharon, which we get that word Sharon from. Later on, the Messiah was said to be called the "Rose of Sharon."
36. THIS IS PART OF THE BEAUTIFUL PLAIN OF SHARON, and this shows you some of the beautiful hills and the trees and how fertile it is--very beautiful country there around Gerar.
37. NUMBER 37, WELL, THE FAMINE WAS OVER. We go back again to Beer-sheba, where they usually stayed on the other side of the mountains. Isaac moved back there, and the Lord renewed again with him the covenant that He had made with Abraham.
WE FIND THAT THE KING VISITED ISAAC HERE, and they made an agreement to live together peaceably--so that they wouldn't have any more arguments. They had a little difficulty over the wells, remember?--'Cause water's very precious.
38. ESAU BEGAN TO MARRY QUITE A FEW WIVES. This is a descendent of those Edomites who became Hittites--one of his descendants living in Israel to this very day.
39. NUMBER 39, HERE IT SHOWS ANOTHER MODERN DAUGHTER OF ESAU living today--one of the descendants of Esau. Now there are many varieties of the descendants of Esau and Ishmael, of whom Rosa is one. Rosa is telling us that just like this photo, her grandmother wears a string of these--like a kind of decoration--coins or something down her nose and around like that, as a part of her jewellery. These are interesting sidelines--to know that some of these customs are still being carried on to this very day by the same descendants of these people.
40. IN NUMBER 40 WHO DO YOU THINK THIS IS? Do you think this is Esau or Jacob? How do you know it's Esau?--Because he's got a bow in his hand and he's got a hunting dog and evidently he's going to go hunting.
NOW BEAR OLD ISAAC, HE THOUGHT HE WAS ABOUT TO DIE. Isaac was almost totally blind by this time. He didn't die, he lived for about. 30 years after this! So evidently, poor old Isaac was prone to think he was going to die, kind of like Esau was. So he said, "Oh, Esau! Go out and get me some of that good venison that you kill. I love to eat that good old deer meat!" He's sending him out to get him some meat.
41. IN 41 WE FIND WHAT HAPPENS WHILE DEAR OLD ESAU'S GONE out hunting for venison for Isaac--who comes along? Dear Mother Rebekah. Who was she the most fond of? She had a favourite son! It isn't quite fair that anyone should have a favourite son. I like to love all my children the same--maybe each one has a different kind of love. But she loved Jacob more than she loved Esau! Now in some ways that wasn't right, but in other ways God allowed it because God was working out His purpose. God for some reason had chosen Jacob to become the chosen seed of Isaac.
SO REBEKAH COOKS UP THIS SCHEME: to have Jacob pretend to be Esau. Now remember, Isaac was blind, So he couldn't tell. To reassure Isaac that it was Esau, he had wrapped goat-skin around his arm. When Isaac reached out to grab him to see if this was really Esau, he said, "The skin is the skin of Esau, but the voice is the voice of Jacob!" But Rebekah assured him.
YOU SEE, THAT'S HOW THE BIBLE IS: IT TELLS THE WHOLE STORY, the true story! It tells the faults of its heroes and heroines, as well as their good points. That's one reason to show that it's a true Book--because it doesn't just tell all the good things, it tells the bad things, too! They deceived him and evidently Rebekah lied to him and told him that it was Esau.
ISAAC HAD SAID, "WHEN YOU BRING ME THE VENISON, ESAU, I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU THE BLESSING and bestow the birthright. "Here it was Jacob instead. So who got the birthright and the blessing? Jacob got it instead of Esau! He received it, in this case, through deceit--but we find out from God's Word later on that God had planned it this way anyhow.
I THINK WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED, now this is my surmise, is that Rebekah and Jacob kind of got in hurry and they got a little ahead of God. You know God can work out things! I think sometimes we could avoid some wars and so on if some people didn't get in such a hurry. If we would do a little more praying and living right and so on, God could spare us from the war without having to start shooting. Well, they got in a hurry! They wanted to be sure to get it right away. They got ahead of God, so they fell into deceit and it was a sin, but I guess the Lord had to forgive them for it later.
JACOB SUFFERED FOR MANY YEARS. He suffered and suffered for 21 years under his uncle Laban, as a result of his deceit. He finally ran into somebody, as we find in a later chapter, that was even crookeder than he was. His very name meant deceiver, supplanter. Jacob was really a crook and that is why God, later on, had to change his name--after 21 years under Laban his uncle. God had to send him out to teach him some lessons, to have to live under and work for a crook that was even crookeder than he was--his uncle Laban!
ROSA YOU KNOW IS AN INDIAN FROM INDIA, at least her parentage is, and also a Mohammedan. She is a descendent of Ishmael and Esau and she says when they want to compliment the children they name them Esau, but if they call anybody Jacob, why, that's just as good as calling him a thief! God had to change his heart after 21 years of hard work under a fellow who was a worse crook than he was, his old uncle Laban. After 21 years Jacob was a different man--he learned the lesson!
THAT TEACHES US A GOOD LESSON, children: If we are bad to other people, what's God going to allow people to be to us? God will let people be bad to us. If we're bad to others, people will be bad to us to teach us a lesson! If we suffer long enough that way, we understand and we learn the lesson and then we stop being bad to other people--that's what happened to Jacob. He was a different man; he was really converted, you might say--conversion, a change of heart and mind after that 21 years of working for Laban. That story we're going to tell in the next chapter.
42. NUMBER 42, WHAT HAPPENED WHEN DEAR OLD ESAU CAME BACK? He has the deer lying there on the floor--he's brought it back to father Isaac, and he says, "Here's the venison I promised you, father. "It looks like Esau was certainly in the right, but God allowed it to happen for a reason.
WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND ALL OF GOD'S WAYS! We don't know why He did this! But we know that the Lord allowed it to happen, because God, for some reason or other, must have known that some-how or another the descendants of Jacob would be more industrious and harder workers, in many respects. Look at the Jews today--the Jews are very wealthy, they own industry. They are very brilliant and prominent, leaders in art, leaders in science, and leaders in every realm of thought and music and all of these things.
SO GOD EVIDENTLY KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING WHEN HE CHOSE JACOB to become their forefather. The descendants of Esau and Ishmael became a great people--many kings and great nations, but never quite as great as the Jewish people. So the Lord allowed it that way for some reason. We don't know why, we can't question the things of God! We just know that this is the way it happened and that's what God did. We are told He'd already chosen Jacob. So Jacob did certainly make a mistake in deceiving, but he learned his lesson.
NOW POOR ESAU CAME BACK and he seemed to sense right away something was wrong. Isaac said, "Esau?" He seemed to indicate that he was surprised that here was Esau coming again with venison. He'd already been there, he thought, once before with venison, but instead it was Jacob! So now Esau gets the point. "Oh," he says, "my brother again has deceived me!" So he weeps! I really feel sorry for poor Esau here. But in a way, he was suffering for his own sins.
REMEMBER HOW LIGHTLY HE HAD COUNTED HIS BIRTH RIGHT? Remember when he just said, "Oh well, sure I'll sell it to you for a bowl of porridge"? See, he hadn't thought much of that birthright! So God's Word tells us that he found no place of repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears--because he had counted it lightly!
WE DON'T, ANYONE OF US, WANT TO ACCOUNT LIGHTLY THE GIFTS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US, or the position that God has given us, or the responsibilities that God has given us! Sure, he was hungry, but he should have sooner even died than to give up that birthright! See, it was very important for him to keep that birthright, but he just accounted it lightly and he sold it--and he sold it pretty cheap at that!
ROSA IS DEFENDING ESAU HERE, and says he was hungry when he sold it. This is real interesting: The Mohammedans think that Esau was the chosen seed. That's really interesting to have someone here representing the Mohammedan religion.
WELL, WE'RE JUST READING YOU WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS, Rosa, that's all. I guess the Koran says something different. I told you that God had already promised, God had already indicated that He was going to give the inheritance of the line, which was to precede Christ and become the forefathers of Christ, through Jacob! Jacob, as we say, must've gotten in a hurry, and he certainly gave himself a bad name through doing it--but later on he had repented of it.
POOR ESAU! I fell sorry for him! It was a pitiful thing--he said, "Well, Father Isaac, don't you have a little bit of blessing left for me? Bless me, too!"--And he weeps! You feel very sorry for poor Esau in this scene, because he's weeping and crying and he wants the blessing. What did father Isaac do? Did he bless him? Yes, he did! He blessed him and he said, "Thou shalt become great nations and kings shall come of thee."
ESAU DID BECOME THE FOREFATHER OF MANY GREAT NATIONS--all of the Arab nations, and over through the Moslem nations and to India, Pakistan, and all the North African nations--which are Mohammedan nations. The whole Arab world is descended from Esau!--So God did bless him, didn't He? God did bless the Arabs, as well as the Jews.
SO THEY ARE BOTH VERY GREAT CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM and their descendants became very great peoples. But none of them quite as great as the Jews! The Jews, although they lost their nation for a time, they became the leaders of many nations. As the Lord has said to Abraham, "I'll make thee the father of many nation."
SO ABRAHAM DID BECOME THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS, because the Jews have become leaders of every nation in which God has placed them. He's had to put them there, sometimes through persecution and they've suffered from nation to nation. Now some of them are going back to Israel. Israel has been restored as a nation and that is part of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy!
43. HERE'S A DESCENDENT OF DEAR ESAU, LIVING OUT ON THE DESERT--this is one type of descendent. He has many kinds of descendants, but this is atypical Bedouin woman--the wife of one of the Arabs, out in the desert.
44. NUMBER 44, NOW THE CLOSING PART OF THE STORY. We find that Jacob is grown to be a man and he's ready to be married. Dear old Isaac is still alive--he didn't die! You notice, even after Jacob went away and came back 21 years later, Isaac was still alive!--So sometimes we think we're going to die and we don't die. So we don't have to worry if God has His hand on our life! God kept Isaac going even though he was blind.
HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE ESAU FELT ABOUT JACOB AFTER THAT? Esau was real mad at Jacob and he was very much in danger of killing his brother. So mother Rebekah decided the best policy was to get Jacob out of there as fast as she could and get him some place safe.
SHE USED THE SCHEME and the pretext of telling Isaac, "Now it's time for Jacob to get married and we must not let him marry some of these foreigners around here. He must have a good wife from his own people!"--Who were back in Haran or in Padanaram, where Terah and Abraham stopped on their way from the land of Ur in the Chaldees. So many of their relatives lived back there, back in the home country.
SHE SAID, "WE MUST SEND HIM BACK THERE TO GET A WIFE." Isaac agreed, and they sent Jacob off by himself, across the desert to find a wife in Padanaram--which is another name for the land of Haran, which later became Nineveh, which became Assyria, which later became Mesopotamia and which today is Iraq.
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER WE ARE GOING TO FIND OUT HOW JACOB GOT HIS WIFE--another love story! This past chapter was a love story about Isaac and Rebekah--a very wonderful love story--lost of stories, wonderful stories in the Bible!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
