Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Spiritual Birthright

Genesis 28:1-9
1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
    3 “May God Almighty bless you,
    And make you fruitful and multiply you,
    That you may be an assembly of peoples;
    4 And give you the blessing of Abraham,
    To you and your descendants with you,
    That you may inherit the land
    In which you are a stranger,
    Which God gave to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.  6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. 8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

After Rebekah and Jacob deceived Isaac and took the birthright despised and rejected by Esau, after Rebekah feared for her sons and planned to send the younger away, we come to this point.  Isaac agreed that Jacob must marry one of God’s people (to be equally yoked and not drawn after false gods), and commanded he go to his mother’s father for a wife from Laban’s (Genesis 24:29) daughters.  This is the place where Isaac’s servant found Rebekah as his wife.  Isaac then sent him with a blessing for God to prosper his journey and continue the promise of Abraham for God’s inheritance by trusting Him (faith).  Jacob departed for continuing the blessings, but Esau continued his cosmic rebellion against God by the sin of marriage to one not of God’s people and blessings.  He took from a daughter of Ishmael, the son of no promise, just worldly prosperity.  We must also beware of seeking to go outside God’s people and commands to follow by faith for His promised fruitfulness.  Our birthright in Christ demands no less than our all in following as His disciples. 

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