Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Genesis-Chapters 25-26

Gen 25.1-34 tells us about how Abraham marries again and had many children; Abraham’s death and burial; the descendants of Ishmael; the children of Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and their different characters; Esau sells his birthright according to God’s will.

v 1…Now Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah (incense).

v 2…And she bore to him (his body remained invigorated after Isaac) Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

v 3…And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of dedan were Asshurim (campers) and Letushuim (tent owners) and Leummim (island dwellers).

v 4…And the sons of Midian were Ephah and epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

v 5…Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac (because he was the son of Promise, not his other sons);

v 6…but to the ons of his concubines (Hagar and Keturah) Abraham gave his gifts while he was still living (like money, gold, silver, movable goods, etc), and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward (of the land of Israel) to the land of the east.

v 7…And these are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, one hundred and seventy-five years (chronologically Jacob was fifteen year old; Noah was alive well into Abraham’s life, and Shem was alive during the days of Jacob also; the lives of the patriarchs overlapped each other).

v 8…And Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, and old man satisfied with life, and he was gathered to his people (who died before him).

v 9…Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave at Machpelah, in the fdield of ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre (Hebron),

v 10…the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife (she had been dead 38 years).

v 11…And it came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived in Beer-lahai-roi (the well of the one who sees me; alludes to the word of God where we should live).

v 12…Now these are the generations (“toldot” written with both vavs missing) of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham;

v 13…and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in order of their birth: Nebeioth, the first born of Ishmael, and Kedar and Abdeel and Mibsam;

v 14…and Mishmah and Dumah and Massa.

v 15…Hadar and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.

v 16…These are the sons of Ishmael, these are their names, by their towns and by their open cities (camps) and by their strongholds (fortified cities); twelve princes according to their nations.

v 17…And these are the years of Ishmael, a hundred and thirty-seven years (lived 48 years after Abraham’s death), and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people (a phrase used for both good and bad individuals).

v 18…And they dwelt from Havilah (south east of Arabia) unto Shur (part of the Sinai Peninsula bordering Egypt), which is east of Egypt as one goes to Assyria; over against all his brethren (relatives) he settled (intruded against all his relatives).

v 19…And these are the generations (“toldot” has a vav missing; the line of the faithful continues however) of Isaac, Abraham’s son (and heir): Abraham begot Isaac,

v 20…and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife (Isaac being forty is an allusion to Yeshua who took a wife at the year 4000 from creation).

v 21…And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived (twins; being two nations, alluding to two natures);

v 22…and the children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it be so, why am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

v 23…And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples shall be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.”

v 24…When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb (he word for “twins” is “tawmim” written defectively meaning one will be unrighteous; in the case of Tamar later it is written full because both children will prove righteous).

v 25…Now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment, and they called him Esau (Esav in Hebrew meaning completely formed and made).

v 26…And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob (Hebrew “Ya’akov” which is Hebrew word play on the word “Ekev” or “heel”), and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them (this alludes to 6000 years and the end, or heel, of the Olam Ha Zeh).

v 27…And the boys grew up and Esau became one who knows hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob was a peaceful man dwelling in tents (a shepherd lived in tents and moved occasionally to find pasture).

v 28…And Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste (literally “was in his mouth”) for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob (being of better disposition, and she knew he was God’s choice for the heir-v 23).

v 29…And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished (faint for want of food).

v 30…And Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow (pour into me now) some of that very red stuff (literally “ha adom ha adom in Hebrew or “the red, the red” because he was hungry and haste), for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom (“red” and has the same root as Adam).

v 31…But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright (he knew from his mother the word of the Lord concerning him).”

v 32…And Esau said, “Behold (see), I am about to die (in mortal danger constantly; and being concerned with what was before him), so of what use then is the birthright to me (his father was still alive, and a spiritual birthright from Abraham was of little use to him now, but the stew was)?”

v 33…And Jacob said, First swear to me (that you won’t complain later)’; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob (this alludes to Adam selling out his birthright for food).

v 34…Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright (he exchanged the spiritual blessings for temporary physical satisfaction).

Gen 26.1-35 tells us how Isaac repeats Abraham’s mistakes but the Lord tells him not to go to Egypt; Abimelech takes Rebekah because he thinks she is Isaac’s sister; Isaac is rebuked by a foreign king just like his father was; Isaac again digs the wells his father did that were stopped up by the Philistines; three wells and their names; God confirms his promise to Isaac for Abraham’s sake; the inhabitants make peace with Isaac; Esau marries wives of the daughters of Canaan.

v 1…Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine (in Gen 12.10) that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines (probably the son of the one Abraham dealt with; this was a dynastic title).

v 2…And the Lord appeared to him (in a vision or dream) and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you (in general).

v 3…Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you (empower you to succeed), for to your descendants I will give all these lands and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham (which includes the Messiah).

v 4…And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (meaning the Messiah that will descend from him),

v 5…because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws (Torah or teachings concerning moral, civil, judicial enactments that God gave him).”

v 6…So Isaac lived in Gerar (continued there).

v 7…When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister (she was not as near to him as Sarah was to Abraham),” for he was afraid to say, “my wife” lest “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah for she is beautiful (the real heart of the matter).”

v 8…And it came about when he had been there a long time that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah (a familiarity that would be inappropriate between brother and sister).

v 9…Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, “She is my sister?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I was apprehensive that I would be killed because of her.”

v 10…And Abimelech said, “what is this you have done to us (by lying about an imagined danger)? One of the people might have easily lain with your wife (like the king), and you would have brought guilt upon us (because you are beloved of Yehovah).”

v 11…So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

v 12…Now Isaac sowed in the land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed Isaac (for staying in the land),

v 13…and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy (despite poor soil and famine-v 1),

v 14…for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great house-hold, so that the Philistines envied him.

v 15…Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug up in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them in with earth (because of the envy just mentioned; the apostate “church” does the same thing spiritually with the word).

v 16…Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us for you are too powerful for us (in family, servants, flocks, herds, riches and goods, etc).”

v 17…And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley (Hebrew “nahal” meaning wadi or river bed) of Gerar (away from the city of Gerar) and settled there.

v 18…Then Isaac dug again the wells of water (alludes to true teaching; Isaac retraces the steps of Abraham and is blessed) which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines (means a “wallower” and a type of an apostate-2 Pet 2.22) had stopped them up after the death of Abraham (out of envy); and he gave them names which his father had given them.

v 19…But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley (wadi) and found there a well of flowing water (Hebrew “mayim chaim” or living water; only those who “dig” will find the water of the word of truth),

v 20…the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek (strife) because they contended with him (alludes to the first Temple and the strife of the nations against it).

v 21…Then they dug another well and they quarreled over it, too; so he named it Sitnah (meaning “hostility” and related to the word “satan” meaning an adversary; this alludes to the second Temple).

v 22…And he moved away from them and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehovot (meaning broad places and alludes to Ezekiel’s Temple; speaks of safety and movement; a narrow place speaks of danger and affliction-Matt 7.13-14) for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us and we will be fruitful in the land.”

v 23…Then he went up from there to Beersheba (out of fear or the famine being over, and now he won’t be harassed because he is back in the land).

v 24…And the Lord appeared to him (in a dream or vision) the same night and said, “I am the God (power) of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants (perpetuate your life), for the sake (or on account of or on his behalf) my servant Abraham.”

v 25…So he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord (Yehovah), and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac’s servants dug a well (to find water for his family and animals).

v 26…Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his advisor Ahuzzath, his intimate friend, and Phicol the commander of his army.

v 27…And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”

v 28…And they said, “We saw certainly that the Lord has been with you, and we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you (a renewal of Ch 21; they had already violated the covenant with Abraham, and they thought Isaac might retaliate and bring military action because he was strong-v 16);

v 29…that you will do to us no harm (for breaking the covenant), just as we have not touched you; and as we have done unto you nothing but good (by royal authority; the stopping of the wells was not by the king’s orders), and we have sent you away in peace; you are now blessed of the Lord.”

v 30…Then he made a feast (a covenantal feast; a meal consecrated to God; a Lord’s supper) and they ate and drank.

v 31…And in the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths; and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace.

v 32…Now it came about on the same day (of the transaction), that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”

v 33…So he called it Sheba (on account of the “oath”), therefore the name of the city is called Beersheba (well of the oath-it was named that by Abraham years before, but now it was renewed) to this day.

v 34…And when Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath (also called Adah) the daughter of Elon the Hittite (the fathers were men of great power and authority among the Canaanites; he had another wife named Baasemath, but she was the daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth-Gen 36.3; he also had other wives);

v 35…and they brought grief (bitterness of spirit) to Isaac and Rebekah (because they were complete opposites).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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