THROUGH THE BIBLE IN THREE YEARS
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Sam Levenson said that when he was a boy he always had to do what his father wanted. Now, he has to do what his son wants.
He wants to know, "When can I do what I want?"
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Gen 28
1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.
5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram;
8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
KJV
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Even though Jacob had used deceit to take the birthright, Isaac realized it was according to God's will. Having now seen the hand of God in all that he does, Isaac passed on the blessing of Abraham to Jacob. When God shows us the right way we need to "walk in it," even if it is not what we "want" for ourselves.
You'll notice that Isaac called upon GOD ALMIGHTY (EL SHADDAI) for the blessing. There is no other God, and there are no blessings except HE gives them!
Isaac encouraged Jacob to be more concerned with the spiritual blessing of God than other things. Isaac also realized there was quite a strong resentment between Jacob and Essau. Isaac sent Jacob to Laban, Rebekah's brother, in Mesopatimia. That's where Abraham came from.
Two things we learn from this. First, Jacob will be taking his first cousin for a wife. Second, when dissension in the home causes an impossible situation it is better to move than to lose a brother.
Essau, still jealous of Jacob (and perhaps seething in anger), went and took a wife from the daughters of Ishmael. What he did in righteousness, he did a little late. And it added folly; because now he has THREE wives.
Oh! How treacherous is the way when we seek to please father and mother and friends, but not GOD! (see Colossians 3:23)
I have a pastor friend who once preached a sermon named "SOME PEOPLE JUST DON't 'GET IT'!" Essau was one of those. Just because others are doing it; or just because someone wants you to do it - doesn't make it RIGHT!
The BEST way is GOD'S way!
Love ya,
Bruce