 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
7 These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.9 Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, 10 the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. 11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi. 12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. 17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) 18 They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled[a] over against all his kinsmen. The Birth of Esau and Jacob 19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 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. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”[b] So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you[c] shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob.[d]Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Esau Sells His Birthright 29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.[e]) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Meditation Partiality in love will lead to problems in life. Partiality based on performance, socio-economic status, ethnicity, or productivity will lead to problems in the family and society. The partiality of Jacob in parenting divided his boys and turned them to be jealous of Joseph and sell him to slavery (Genesis 37-50). The partiality of Peter in Galatians 2 was rebuked by Paul in the early church, leaving no room for division of God’s people based on ethnicity. Today’s chapter is the seedbed of problems between Jacob and Esau grown from the partiality planted by their parents. Isaac loved Esau because of his performance, eating what he killed. Rebekah loved Jacob. Rather than bringing the best out of children, partiality facilitates competition and exploitation among siblings. Later we see the full fruit of partiality in parenting, a desire to murder or totally remove the other sibling (27:41). God shows no favoritism (Deuteronomy 10:17) and no partiality (Romans 2:11; Acts 10:34). Christians are commanded to show no partiality and the NT teaches showing favoritism is a sin (James 2:1-9). God redeems our sinful, prejudice partiality through His impartial love. The love of God is based solely on the covenant faithfulness of God and centered on the work of God in Jesus Christ. God’s impartial love frees us to love all people. Impartial love will lead to a fullness of life in our families and society. Richly Dwelling -Where do you see the problem of partiality in family and society? -Why did Isaac and Rebekah show partiality? Why do we, as humans? -How does the impartial love of God for us free us to be impartial in showing love to family and neighbors? How can you show impartial love today? Key Verse 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Comments are closed.
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