All in the
Family: Lessons to Learn
From congregational readings in Genesis 26-30, Feb
18, ‘08 – bk@kluth.org
1) The wrong choices of parents may be repeated
Gen 26:6-10 Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of
that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister,"
because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The
men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is
beautiful." When Isaac had been
there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines
looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your
wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I
might lose my life on account of her."
Then Abimelech said, "What is this you
have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you
would have brought guilt upon us."
Ex 20:5-6 I, the LORD your God,
am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the
third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a
thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep
my commandments.
2) The blessing of the Lord can increase
wealth and increase conflict
Gen 26:12-16 Isaac planted crops in that
land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The
man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.
He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father
Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. Then Abimelech
said to Isaac, "Move away from us; you have become too powerful for
us."
3) The choice of marriage partners can
lead to problems
Gen
26:34-35
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath
daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of
grief (trouble, bitterness, anger, hurt,
heavy heart) to Isaac and Rebekah.
Gen
27:46
Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite
women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite
women like these, my life will not be worth living."
4) The role of parenting is filled with
challenges
Gen
25:27-28 The boys grew up, and Esau
became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet
man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who
had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Prov
22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from
it.
Gen
37:4 When
his brothers saw that their father loved [Joseph] more than any of them, they
hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5) God needs to reveal Himself to each
person
Gen
28:10-22 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for
Haran…[Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with
its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending
on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God
of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac…All peoples on earth will be
blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you
wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land…When Jacob awoke from
his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not
aware of it…”. Then Jacob made a vow,
saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I
am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return
safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I
have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will
give you a tenth."
2 Cor
4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot
see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
Mark
8:34
(Jesus said) "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me.”
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