Bible Basics: Genesis 25
Genesis 25
Verses 1–6: After Sarah’s death, Abraham marries Keturah and they have six sons together. Unfortunately, he continues bearing children through multiple concubines, contrary to God’s original plan to complete one man with only one woman. This creates additional problems for him. Although he names Isaac his heir, as with Ishmael, Abraham’s additional sons apparently pose a threat to Isaac’s inheritance. They too are sent away from Isaac and Abraham’s household to the east with parting gifts.
vv. 7–11: When Abraham dies at the “good old age” of 175, Isaac and Ishmael bury him next to Sarah in the cave he purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Faithfully, God blesses Isaac, who was living in Beer Lahai Roi at the time. This is the same location where God met Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness in distress. Its name can be rendered aptly, “well of the Living One who sees me.”* God would see, provide for, and bless Isaac throughout the course of his life.
vv. 12–18: As God had promised, he also blesses Ishmael’s life, granting him twelve sons who likely settled in the area of modern Jordan.** They become powerful tribal rulers over their own territories, but like their father, remain hostile to and separated from the rest of Abraham’s descendants.
vv. 19–23: Isaac marries at forty years of age, but doesn’t immediately have children. Rebekah is barren, but God hears Isaac’s prayers for her, and after twenty years grants them twin boys: Jacob and Esau. When Rebekah questions God about the wrestling in her womb, he reveals their future to her. They’ll become two separate people groups, and contrary to the cultural norm of the day, the younger would become more powerful and prominent than the older.
vv. 24–28: Consistent with this prophecy, the younger son, Jacob, comes out grasping the heel of the older, Esau, at birth. Isaac loves Esau, an adventurous hunter, over Jacob, while Rebekah loves Jacob, a “quiet man,” over Jacob: always a recipe for disaster.
vv. 29–34: We see the beginnings of their separation and rank play out one day when Esau returns home from hunting, exhausted and famished. Jacob is making stew, and Esau urgently asks him for some. Not missing an opportunity, Jacob barters away Esau’s birthright in exchange for the stew.
In this act of reckless impulse, Esau gives up his right to become the family head after Isaac’s death, receive a double portion of the inheritance and become the forefather of Christ.*** His mind is on the moment, and characteristic of him and his descendants generally, not on the things of God.
*https://bibleatlas.org/beer-lahai-roi.htm
**https://www.brotherpete.com/12_sons_tribes_ishmael.htm
***https://www.gotquestions.org/blessing-birthright.html