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Jacob was afraid. He had just received word that his brother Esau, whom he had tricked out receiving the birthright, was on the march with 400 of his finest men. The hunt was on for Jacob! "Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed" (Gen. 32:7 ESV). Well, who wouldn't be afraid? Esau hated Jacob and had vowed to kill him. Now it looked like it will all come down on Jacob's head.
It is no fun to live in fear. Fear, anxiety, and worry are the unholy trinity of too many Christians. Instead of trusting God, we give into our inner fears. I've been told that 90% of what we fear never comes to pass. Most of it is in our head. When Christ is in the heart, fear will leave the head. Back to the story. The dreaded day arrived. The first thing Jacob saw that morning was his brother and 400 men on the horizon. Jacob split up his family, putting the servants in front of them for protection. Then, "He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother" (Gen. 33:1-3). Was this what changed the heart of Esau? Or had Esau already had a change of heart? For the next verse says, "But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept" (Gen. 33:4). This is one of the most tender verses in Genesis. Notice ~ "and they wept." A change of heart in Esau changed the day for Jacob and his family. Oh, how many estranged family members today (even in the church) need that change of heart! How different things could be! Let God change your heart today.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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Jacob was between a rock and a hard place. Laban was pursuing him from one direction and Esau was advancing on him from another direction. He prayed to God for deliverance (Gen. 32:11) and then bedded down for the night. He couldn't sleep. You know how it is when you are sick with worry. Who can sleep? So he got up, took Rachel and Leah and their 11 sons and crossed over the Jabbok ford, then returned to camp. That's when the wrestling began. God and Jacob wrestled all night long. It is a strange story but true. Truth is often stranger than fiction. Toward the break of day we find this amazing passage. "And He [God] said, 'Let Me go, for the day breaks.' But he [Jacob] said, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me!'" (Gen. 32:26 NKJV).
How puny my prayers seem in comparison. How easily I give up in prayer, long before the day breaks. How tiny and embarrassing are my requests. The apostle Paul described our wrestling in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:12). Give Jacob credit. He wrestled with God until he got what he requested, even though he limped from that day forward because of the event (see. 25). God leaves His mark on us when we pray fervently and unceasingly. God was so impressed with Jacob's intensity and aggressiveness that He gave him a new name. "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggle with God and with men, and have prevailed" (v. 28). Just think. Israel today might be known as Jacob! The Israelites might have been called the Jacobites. The name "Israel" appears more than 2,500 times in Scripture. All because a man would not take no for an answer ~ from Almighty God Himself!
Prayer: Great God of Israel, forgive us when we fail to go to the mat with You in prayer. We repent of our puny prayers. Grant us the holy boldness of Your servant Jacob/Israel. Through Christ we pray.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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"Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, 'I will serve you [Laban] seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.' And Laban said, 'It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.' So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her" (Gen. 29:18-20 NKJV).
True love waits. Perhaps that expression comes from today's text. Jacob's love for Rachel was so great that he worked for Laban for seven long years. He waited for the hand of Rachel for 2,532 days. Talk about a long courtship and engagement period! And then everything blew up in his face. Laban had tricked him! Jacob went to bed on his wedding night with Leah, the older daughter. But he did not know this was the case until morning. All those enduring phrases he breathed into the ear of his bride ("Oh, Rachel, Rachel!" ) went into the ears of Leah instead. Poor Jacob. Poor Rachel! "So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah" (Gen. 29:25). That verse always strikes me as funny, but I am sure it was not funny to Jacob! "Leapin' Leah-zzards!" Leah, who could have alerted Jacob to the trick any time she wanted, probably enjoyed her night as the surrogate bride.
Jacob was no doubt mad as hops. I would have been. He went to Laban the next day and confronted him about the deceit. (I wonder if he remembered how he himself had deceived his blind old father? Chickens do come home to roost now and then!). Laban's excuse was lame but Jacob bought it anyway. He had a one-week "honeymoon" with Leah and then was permitted to marry Rachel ~ on the condition that he work seven more years for Laban (see vs. 26-30). Even at that the Bible says that Jacob's love for Rachel was so great that he worked as Laban's indentured servant for a grand total of 14 years (5,064 days). True love waits. And waits. And waits. But is worth it in the end.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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Have you ever made a vow (a solemn promise)? If you are married, you did. Vows should be taken seriously. The vow we will study today was made by Jacob when he traveled as far as Bethel. It was there that he dreamed of a ladder that reached to heaven. Angels were ascending and descending. Above the ladder was God. Once again, God assured Jacob of the covenant that He had made with Abraham and Isaac. When Jacob woke up, he set up a pillar and poured oil on it. Then he made this famous vow. "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You" (Gen. 28:20-22 NKJV).
Where in the world did Jacob learn about tithing? Probably from his grandfather Abraham. Remember when Abraham rescued his nephew Lot? After his return, Abram (as he was known then) was met by Melchizedek, king of Salem (later, Jerusalem) and priest of God Most High (Gen. 14:18). In return for the blessing of Melchizedek, Abram gave him a tithe of all he possessed (v. 20). I don't know if Isaac practiced tithing or not but I would imagine he did. Now Jacob is vowing to do the same. Let me ask you some questions that are based on this text. Has God been with you (presence)? Has He kept you in the way you are going (protection)? Has He give you bread to eat and clothes to wear (provision)? Then why not make a similar vow (unless you already have)? "Of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to you." You might even want to find a nice stone and place it somewhere to remind you of this solemn promise. Remember that Christ is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:17). We are the seed of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. What Jacob vowed to do, we may vow as well. I have never known a tither who regretted it, but I have met many people who wished they had started tithing earlier in life.
Prayer: Holy Father, everything we have comes from Your hand. We thank You for your presence, protection and provision. Grant us the courage to make the vow of Jacob in Jesus' name.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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What I am about to say is subjective but I believe the saddest verse in the book of Genesis is Chapter 27:38 NKJV: "And Esau said to his father, 'Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father!' And Esau lifted up his voice and wept." The book of Hebrews says he sought the blessing "diligently with tears" (Heb. 12:17). Oh, what weeping and wailing. You can almost hear his wails of anguish spread out across the hills and valleys. A neighbor asks, "What is that? A wounded animal?" Another replies, "No, that is Esau. He just learned that Jacob deceived his father and stole the birthright that was his. I wouldn't want to be in Jacob's sandals!"
Isaac gave Esau a blessing but it was not the one that he thought he would get or even deserved. Therefore, the Bible says, "So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, 'The days of mourning for my father are at hand; and then I will kill my brother Jacob'" (Gen. 27:41). Esau's anguish is soon supplanted with bitter hatred and thoughts of murder. What was Jacob thinking? For now he had to leave his home and head for the hills just to save his hide.
All spiritual blessings are found in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3). We do not have to practice deceit like Jacob or plead with God like Esau to receive the promised blessings in Christ. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, accourding to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7). Praise His holy name!
Prayer: Gracious God, how we need Your blessing! Thank you for blessing us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness!
Today is my wife's birthday! What a blessing she has been to me ever since we first met in 1965. God has blessed us with 42 years of marriage!
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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"So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.'" (Gen. 27:22 NKJV).
Have you ever been deceived? It is not a pleasant feeling. You feel like someone has betrayed you. You feel violated, humiliated, and shamed. It is a terrible thing to deceive a person. This is what happened to Isaac when he was old and blind. His son, Jacob, with the assistance of his mother Rebekah, concocted a plan to deceive the old man so that Jacob would received the coveted birthright, even though his brother Esau was the firstborn son. Jacob confided in her, saying, "Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing" (vs. 11, 12). Jacob was not only smooth-skinned, he had a smooth tongue. He was a deceiver! He admitted as much. While Esau was on a hunt, Rebekah made a savory stew and Jacob approached his father with the skins of goats on the back of his hands and neck. That's when Isaac felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
There are so many deceivers in the world today doing the work of the master deceiver, Satan. The apostle John said, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). The voice is Jacob's but the hands are Esau's. Don't be deceived by the hands of Esau. That voice you hear is not the one you think it is. The hands make you feel like it is genuine, but the voice cannot be mistaken. It is the voice of falsehood, error, deception, and danger. Smooth talkers deceive many out of their life savings; worse than that, eternal life. Do not be led astray. Test the spirits to see whether they are of God. Is what they are saying according to the Bible? Is it that same as what Jesus and the apostles taught? Stay with God's Word and you will not be led astray. This is why personal Bible study is so important. Don't let what you "feel" rob you of your spiritual birthright. Learn to recognize the smooth voice of the deceiver and reject his or her lying message.
Prayer: God of all truth, grant us wisdom so that we might be able to discern between truth and error. May we always stay with You Son who is the way, the truth and the life. In His name we pray, Amen.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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"And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, 'I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham's sake.'" (Gen. 26:24 NKJV).
At night our fears grow worse. We cannot sleep and we begin to worry. It is then that we need an assuring word from the Lord. This is what Isaac experienced firsthand. His servants had been trying to dig a well for their master but the Philistines kept filling them up with dirt. There were also many quarrels going on between his herdsman and the Philistine herdsman. Finally, a new well was dug and there was no quarreling. That is the night God visited Isaac with a word of encouragement.
The first word of encouragement had to do with God's person: "I am the God of your father Abraham." How many times had Isaac heard about God from his father! I remember so many evenings when my father gathered all of us together and read the Bible to us. I also remember my mother's earnest prayers, many of them for me. The second word was in regard to God's presence: "Do not fear, for I am with you." That is a very good thing to remember when you cannot sleep because of strife that is going on in your life. Has He not promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you"? When David walked through the valley of the shadow of death he feared no evil. Why? Because God was with him ~ "Thou art with me." Third, the voice in the night reminded Isaac of God's promise: "I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham's sake." God keeps His promises. He is not like presidents and politicians who say one thing and do another. Claim the wonderful promises of the Lord! Because of this assuring voice in the night, Isaac got up the next day, built an altar, and called on the name of the LORD. This was a first for Isaac but it would not be the last. Now he was on the right road ~ all because of that voice in the night. The next time you are troubled and cannot sleep, think of God's person, presence, and promises. I guarantee you it will be better than a sleeping pill.
Prayer: Father, thank You for your calm and assuring voice in the night. May we always honor you and call upon you in our times of trouble. Through Christ we pray.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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Do you ever get the idea that we don't learn from the mistakes of others? Call it "human nature" (or better yet "sin") but it seems like we just don't learn very well from the past. Such is the case with Isaac in Genesis 26. Just like his father had done (see Gen. 20), he journeys to a strange land and tries to pass off his wife as his sister. Rebekah was a beautiful woman and he feared that they would kill him in order to take her (Gen. 26:7). This story is all to familiar! King Abimelech is probably not the same King Abimelech as in Chapter 20. The Ryrie Study Bible says, "Abimelech is a dynastic title, such as pharaoh. Since this occurred 97 years later, the Abimelech mentioned here was probably not the same as the one mentioned in Chapter 20. But the story is much the same.
why Isaac didn't just trust God to protect him? After all, God appeared to him in verse 2 and said, "Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands..." (Gen. 26:3 NKJV). In spite of this divine assurance, Isaac comes up with a false story line for the Philistines. Where did he learn that? Had his father Abraham told him about what he had once done? Did he learn it from some of the servants? Was it a part of the family oral history? I don't know. All I know is that Isaac pulled the same stunt as did his illustrious father Abraham. Neither one of them chose to trust God for protection and deliverance in the same situation. But let us take a good close look at our own lives. Are there times we trust our own wits more than we do God? Do we ever stretch the truth or tell a lie to get by? Let us never forget the words that God spoke to Isaac ~ "I will be with you and bless you..." Surely that should be good enough for us!
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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More from my book The Biblical Roots of Islam (5th printing, 2009). Isaac had two sons: Jacob (later called Israel) and Esau. Although Esau (like Ishmael) was the first-born son, God's plan was for Jacob to receive the promise made to Abraham and Isaac. Esau was filled with bitterness and hatred. He became a strong ally of Ishmael, an alliance that was made stronger when he married Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter (Gen. 28:9). Esau also married two Hittite women (Gen. 26:34). Jim Gerrish notes: "Like Ishmael, Esau moved into the desert in the area of Mt. Seir, or Edom, to the east of the Dead Sea. There he became the progenitor of multitudes of other Arab peoples. These Arabs were joined by the children of Lot, Abraham's nephew, in making up many of the inhabitants of today's Jordan, as well as other parts of the Arab world (Gen. 19:37,38). The bitter rivalry between all these desert peoples and Israel is recorded throughout the Old Testament. Time and time again they came in fury and bitter hatred to destroy Israel. Bible history is replete with the attacks of the Edomites, Ammonites, Ishmaelites, Moabites, and hordes of other Arabs against the seed of Issac and Jacob" (Islam, the Religion of the Other Brother).
Moab and Ammon, of course, were the sons of Lot, Abraham's nephew, the products of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters (Gen. 19:30-38). The descendants of the six sons of Abraham by Keturah [his second wife, Gen. 25:6] moved east and became nomadic tribes living in what is today called Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and other North African nations. The stage is now set for the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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When Abraham died, his sons Ishmael (by Hagar) and Isaac (by Sarah) buried him alongside Sarah in the cave of Macpelah (Gen. 25:9). This is perhaps the first time they had seen each other since Ishmael and his mother were sent packing by Sarah. There is no record of their conversation at the funeral, if indeed there was any. Remember that God had also promised Abraham that he would make a nation out of Ishmael (Gen. 21:13). Ishmael had 12 sons (just as Jacob/Israel would have 12 sons). Ishmael's sons are named in Genesis 25:13-14. Take special note of his second-born son, Kedar. The following is excerpted from my book The Biblical Roots of Islam, 5th printing, 2009).
Remember the chilling prophecy in Genesis 16? Ishmael would be: (1) a wild donkey of a man; (2) his hand will be against everyone; (3) everyone's hand will be against him; (4) he will live [in hostility] to the east of his brothers. Genesis 25:18 NASB contains the fulfillment: "And they settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives." Israel would bear the brunt of Ishmael for centuries.
Some believe that Muhammad descended from the tribe of Kedar, the second-born son of Ishmael (Davis Dictionary of the Bible).Ishmael was an archer and his descendants, the "mighty men" of the sons of Kedar, according to Isaiah 21:17, were archers. They are described in Psalm 120 as hating peace and wanting war. "Woe is me that I dwell in Meschech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul had dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war" (Psa. 120:5-7).
The desert-dwelling twelve tribes of Ishmael became known as the Ishmaelites (sometimes called Midianites, Gen. 37:25-28; Judges 8:5, 12, 22, 24). More on this tomorrow.
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| Posted by Victor Knowles at | | | |
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