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.
Esau Marries Mahalath
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.
As Isaac blessed his son of the inheritance passed down by the faith of his father Abraham, he commanded Jacob to continue the lineage promised to Abraham and then himself to father many nations by finding a godly wife. This was necessary to begin his part in continuing the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:1-2, 3-4, 7-8) as an unbeliever as a wife would not be a foundational step to fulfill the promises of God, but rather would hinder and prevent the fullness of fruitful multiplying God’s plan. Jacob therefore had to venture forth in faith like his father and grandfather before him in willing and hopeful obedience. He went to where Isaac had found his wife and Jacob’s mother Rebekah among their relatives in Padan Aram. Before he journeyed, however, Isaac pronounced a blessing on him that was actually God’s blessing to be fruitful and to multiply him as more than just a successful trip to gain a godly wife; it was also a promise for the ongoing journey in life to fill the nations with God-following people through his descendants as a channel of redemption for the world. This is the gospel message in its infancy as it led to the Messiah-Christ in whom we now trust and fill the kingdom of God with disciples following Him through godly marriages and spiritual progenies. Jacob was promised the physical land given to Abraham as a picture of the eternal heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) to follow as still given by God to his descendants of Abraham’s faith (Galatians 3:8-9, 14, Hebrews 11:10, 16). Isaac dutifully obeyed and went forth as we should be to continue with the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20) in His authority of command (Matthew 28:18) as to our spiritual forefathers. Unfortunately m the one who sold the birthright and treated it as worthless apart from the material wealth he missed out on, this Esau purposely sought and ungodly wives to spite his father and God Himself in the process. Since we who are spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith have the call to make disciples through godly marriages and godly associations, how much more should we humbly seek to listen to the Lord and trustingly obey Him? We are sent forth to continue the heavenly country’s descendants through the gospel of Jesus Christ our Messiah and hope’s fulfillment of the promises and covenants. May we likewise obey the command to make disciples through the presentation of the gospel and follow-up of discipleship as we teach them all these things from the whole counsel of scripture. Amen.
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