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Chapter
23 begins with the death of Sarah. Sarah died
at age 127, in Chevron, which is 20 miles south
of Jerusalem. After Abraham mourned for her, he
needed a place to bury her, and he bargained with
the sons of Het. They were Hittites - descendants
of Cham and Canaan (see 10:15). After some bargaining,
Efron, the owner of a field and the Cave of Machpelah,
sold it to Abraham for the price of 400 shekels
of silver. The field was publicly acknowledged
as belonging to Abraham.
That appears
to be a very high price for a field, since Jeremiah
bought a field for only 17 shekels (see Jeremiah
32:7-10). King Omri paid 6,000 shekels for the
entire hill of Samaria, which later became the
city of Samaria (see 1 Kings 16:24).
Each shekel
probably weighed a half-ounce, which amounts to
200 ounces of silver. Right now silver sells for
6.50 an ounce, so the cost of the field and cave
was $1300. But, 1300 dollars in silver back then
would buy a lot more than 1300 dollars in silver
today.
Even though
the Lord had given this special land to Abraham,
he still followed the laws of the land, and bought
it from the people of the land. In a very similar
way, the modern settlers of the Land of Israel
often bought land from the people who owned the
land. They did not confiscate the land.
Later,
along with Sarah, Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Rebekah
and Leah were all buried there, in the Cave of
Machpelah. And, it seems that the Cave of Machpelah,
and the remains of these fathers and mothers of
the Jewish people, are still in the city of Chevron,
and known to us to this day.
How ironic
that the only part of the land that was promised
to Abraham, that he actually owned, was a small
part used to bury his wife! But I don't think
that bothered father Abraham, because he knew
that the faithful God would ultimately fulfill
His promise, and that Abraham's descendants would
ultimately possess that entire beautiful Land.
And, Abraham was willing to live as a stranger,
an alien, a wanderer in his own land, because
he was really looking for another place, another
city, whose architect and builder is God. Abraham
was looking beyond this world, to the World-To-Come,
and the New Jerusalem, where he would live forever!
That was Abraham's ultimate hope. Is it yours?
Chapter
24 records the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah. One
of the principle lessons to be learned is the
importance of marrying the right man or woman.
One of the most destructive factors to our spiritual
life is marrying the wrong man or woman, who doesn't
share our faith in God. One of the greatest advantages
in life is marrying a stable person who loves
the Lord.
Abraham
understood that it was very important that Isaac,
his son and heir, not marry a woman from the Canaanites,
among whom they lived. The Canaanites did not
know the true God, were sexually promiscuous,
and were under a curse (9:25). Abraham wanted
Isaac to marry someone from a good family, and
so he made his servant, who was mature, responsible
and trustworthy, take an oath and swear that he
would undertake a long journey, and travel to
Abraham's relatives back East, and choose a good
woman from among them to be the wife of his son.
Abraham did not want Isaac to go back East, and
leave the Promised Land, lest he forsake the great
purpose to which God had called him, and so he
sent his servant - not his son.
The servant,
along with other servants, packed ten camels with
gifts and headed toward Aram, to the city of Abraham's
relative Nahor. Before he entered the city, the
servant prayed that the woman who would offer
to help water the camel would be the woman that
God had chosen for Isaac. Before he finished praying,
the Lord began answering his prayer. Rebekah -
Abraham's brother's granddaughter, approached
the well with her jar, to carry water home for
her family. When the servant asked her for water,
she graciously gave him water and offered to water
his thirsty camels - just as the servant had prayed.
This was indeed God's wife for Isaac.
Rebekah
is an excellent model of what to look for when
considering a woman to marry. Let's consider her
virtues:
-
Rebekah
was a responsible woman. She did the hard
work of carrying water.
-
Rebekah
showed kindness and hospitality to an unknown
traveler by giving him water, and offering
to draw water for ten thirsty camels. Rekekah
was willing to do extra work in order to be
hospitable. In addition, she offered to house
the servant and feed his camels.
-
Rebekah
did not engage in sexual activity prior to
marriage. She was a virgin.
-
Rebekah
came from a good family. While it is not always
possible, it generally helps to marry someone
from a good, stable family.
-
Rebekah
was a woman of good character. She was responsible,
and a hard worker. She was gracious, kind,
hospitable, and virtuous. And she was beautiful.
Guys, this is the kind of woman that you need
to be looking for
Rebekah
ran and told her family that she had encountered
Abraham's servant, and her brother Lavan went
to the well, and invited the servant to return
home with him. After taking care of the camels,
and washing the feet of Abraham's servants, and
before he ate, the servant wanted to take care
of his business, since the proverb is true - business
comes before pleasure. The servant retold the
reason for his journey, and Abraham and Isaac's
situation, and his prayer that God had so clearly
answered, and asked Rebekah's family to make a
decision whether she would be given to Isaac as
his wife.
It was
obvious to Rebekah's father and brother that the
Lord had been working in this entire matter, and
since this was clearly God's will, they permitted
her to go with Abraham's servant, and become Isaac's
wife.
The servant
gave expensive gifts to Rebekah, and also to her
mother and brother. Her family sent her off the
next day with a blessing. The family of Rebekah
was one of wealth, since she was accompanied by
her nurse, and her maids. After completing the
journey back to the southern part of Israel, Isaac
met Rebekah, and accepted her as his wife.
Chapter
25 records the final events of the life of father
Abraham. Besides having a child by Sarah, and
one by Hagar, Abraham had married Keturah, and
had six other sons with her. These six sons became
the fathers of various Arab tribes, including
the better known Midianites. God's promise to
Abraham that he would be the father of many nations
was being fulfilled.
Understanding
that these sons, and their descendants, were not
to live in the Land of Israel - that was reserved
for Isaac and his descendants, Abraham gave them
gifts and sent them to the East, toward Arabia,
where they settled. That is their proper domain
- not the Land of Israel.
Abraham
died at the age of 175, and "ye-ah-sef el ah-mav"
- he was gathered to his people - "an indication
that those who had died were regarded as people
still existing. This is an early testimony to
belief in life after death (Ryrie). Abraham's
sons Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham next to
Sarah, in the cave of Machpelah.
Verses
12-18 give us the record of Ishmael's descendants.
His twelve sons became twelve princes and founding
fathers of Arab tribes. These Ishmaelic Arabs
settled mostly in Arabia, and also farther north
toward the Dead Sea. That is their proper domain
- not the Land of Israel.
We move
rapidly from Ishmael and his descendants, back
to Isaac and his descendants, since it is through
Isaac and Jacob that salvation will come to the
world.
Just as
Sarah had problems conceiving, so did Rebekah.
So, being the godly man he was, Isaac prayed,
and the Lord answered his prayer, enabling Rebekah
to conceive twins. The twins struggled together
within her womb, foreshadowing their struggles
throughout life, and the struggle that their descendants
- the Jewish people and the Edomites - would have
with each other.
And struggle
they did. At the time of the Exodus they refused
permission to our people to pass through their
land (Numbers 20:14-21), and ever afterwards maintained
an attitude of hostility toward us. They were
conquered by David (2 Samuel 8:14) and afterwards
by Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:11-12).
But they
regained again their independence, and in later
years, made war against Israel. They took part
with the Babylonians when Nebuchadnezzar captured
Jerusalem, and afterwards they invaded and held
possession of the south of Israel as far as Chevron.
At length, however, Edom fell under the growing
Babylonian power (Jeremiah 27:3- 6).
There
are many prophecies concerning Edom (Isaiah 34:5-6;
Jeremiah 49:7-18; Ezekiel 25:13; 35:1-15; Joel
3:19; Amos 1:11; Obadiah; Malachi 1:3-4) which
have been remarkably fulfilled. After an existence
as a people for more than seventeen hundred years,
they have utterly disappeared. In Petra, "where
kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled,
there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds,
and beasts, and reptiles." (This
information about the Edomites comes from the
WebBible Encyclopaedia.)
Rebekah
asked God why she was having this struggle within
her womb, and the Lord spoke to her, and communicated
that she had twins. Each child would become a
nation. The child who was born first, who normally
would be the principle heir, and the superior,
would be weaker than the younger brother, and
would serve the younger brother. Jacob, the younger,
and the father of the Jewish people, would be
chosen to continue the covenant which provided
salvation and blessing for the world.
When the
children were born, it turned out exactly as the
Lord had said. Rebekah had twins. Esav was born
first, and had lots of red on him - either a reddish
complexion, or the "se-ar" - his hair that was
all over his body, was red. His people were also
called Edom, which means red, like the color of
Esav's complexion or hair. His land was later
called Idumea, after Edom. That area is part of
present-day Jordan. That was their proper domain
- not the Land of Israel. His land was also called
Seir, after Esav's se-ar - hair.
The younger
son came out of the womb holding Esav's ah-kev
- his heel. Isaac and Rebekah called him "Ya'akov."
which means, "he will heel." Now, often you will
hear Christians say that "Jacob" means trickster,
or supplanter, but it doesn't. It means "he will
heel." And here is the real meaning of his name.
Even from the womb, Jacob had a heart for God,
and wanted the spiritual blessings that normally
would come to the firstborn. Also, Isaac and Rebekah
probably called this son "he will heel" because
they believed that he would walk closely behind
God. Jacob would love God, and follow Him, and
live for Him, and walk at the Lord's heels. It
is sad that Jacob's wonderful name has been misunderstood,
and also used to characterize his descendants
- that the Jews are tricky and greedy supplanters.
Esav became
a skillful hunter, an outdoors man, and Jacob
a quiet, peaceful man who preferred the pleasures
to be found closer to home. Perhaps he was more
cultured and scholarly. Then, something happened
that is destructive to families - the parents
had favorite children. Isaac loved and favored
Esav, because he liked the taste of the game that
Esav hunted, while Rebekah loved Jacob.
One incident
from the life of these twins is extremely important.
Esav was out hunting, and came back home tired
and hungry. Jacob was cooking some red-lentil
stew. Esav wanted something from Jacob, and Jacob
wanted something from Esav. He wanted his birthright.
"The birthright of the eldest son gave him a place
of prominence among his brothers (see 43:33).
It gave him a double portion of the family's inheritance
(see Deuteronomy 21:17). It could be forfeited
by committing a serious sin (see 1 Chronicles
5:1), and it could be bartered away, as it was
in this instance" (Ryrie). In addition, the birthright
of the firstborn made him the spiritual leader
of the family. Being in the place of prominence,
serving God as the priest of your family, was
part of the birthright.
And, that
is what Esav did. He sold his birthright to Jacob,
all it the prerogatives that came with it, for
a bowl of red-lentil stew. And, that sale was
validated and solemnized by an oath. And, this
is yet another reason why Esav is also called
Edom - because he bartered his birthright for
red stew.
And the
Torah gives us one lesson: "Thus Esav despised
his birthright." He thought very little of it,
especially being the spiritual leader of his family,
because he was worldly and materialistic and far
more concerned with getting good things in this
world, then rewards in the World-To-Come.
The book
written to the Messianic Jews comments on this
incident. "See to it that no one comes short of
the grace of God... that there be no immoral or
godless person like Esav, who sold his own birthright
for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards,
when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was
rejected, for he found no place for repentance,
though he sought for it with tears.
Adoph
Saphir, a wonderful Messianic Jewish teacher commenting
on this writes that "even though Esav was brought
up in the family of one of the fathers of the
Jewish people, he was devoid of any spiritual
life. He was godless. There was no room for God
in his life, there was no place where God could
dwell. His body was not the Temple of the Holy
Spirit. He treated spiritual things as being of
little importance, and he proved it by selling
his birthright for the immediate gratification
of his appetite.
Esav cared
nothing for his birthright - the right to be the
family priest, and the spiritual leader of his
family. As for inheriting a double portion of
his father's property, he preferred something
that was "here and now" rather than waiting until
the future for that. So he sold his birthright
for a bowl of stew.
The Messianic
Jews are then reminded of what Esav desired later
- the blessing. But by then it was too late. Too
late he realized the value of what he had thrown
away so lightly. Esav discovered that Isaac had
given the blessing to Jacob, and though Esav pleaded
with Isaac to reverse his action and give the
blessing to him, it was all in vain. Esav was
forever the loser, because he so lightly valued
spiritual realities and threw them away in a brief
moment's physical comfort.
The principle
still holds true: the child of God who throws
away golden opportunities in order to indulge
some carnal desire will pay for it in the end.
We must not trade spiritual things for earthly
things, as Esav did, because if we do, we will
surely live to regret it." May the good Lord help
each one of us avoid making similar mistakes!
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