|
Audio
Tablet Four
The
promises
given to Abraham are repeated to
Isaac
And the Lord appeared unto him [Isaac], and
said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall
tell thee of:
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with
thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I
will
give all these countries, and I will perform the oath
which I sware unto
Abraham thy father;
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the
stars of
Heaven, and will
give unto thy seed all these countries;
and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Because that
Abraham
obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my
statutes, and my laws.
(Genesis 26:2-5)
<1>God
reminded Isaac that all these promises would come to his seed, not
because of his merits or greatness, but because of
Abraham.
<2>Also, there were many small countries in
Canaan at that time, "all these countries."
And the Lord appeared unto him the same
night, and said,
I am the
God
of Abraham thy
father: fear not,
for I am with
thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant
Abraham's sake.
(Genesis 26:24)
<3>Again these promises were "for...Abraham's
sake," not for Isaac's sake or because of his merits.
Esau sells his
birthright to Jacob
<4>Isaac married Rebekah, and she bore two
sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the elder.
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the
field, and he was faint:
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee,
with that same red pottage; for
I am faint: therefore was his
name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy
birthright.
And Esau said, Behold,
I am
at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to
me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he
sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
(Genesis 25:29-33)
<5>Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (there
is no "j" in Hebrew. The name actually is "Yaghob"). The birthright
is the heritage of the ownership of the promised nations (material
domination) which was given to
Abraham to be passed
down to his seed. This birthright, which
God had promised to give to
Abraham's seed, would
go to the first born male in the family. When Esau sold it to Jacob,
then Jacob would be the father of many nations.
Jacob
receives the blessing of Isaac instead of Esau
<6>All of chapter 27 of
Genesis is
about how Jacob, the younger son of Isaac, who already had bought
Esau's birthright, also received his father's blessings.
<7>Because
his mother realized that Jacob deserved the blessings of his father
more than Esau, an arrangement was made for Jacob to receive the
blessings of his father. The blessing is given below:
...and blessed him [Jacob],...
Therefore
God give thee of the
dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn
and wine:
Let people serve thee, and nations bow down
to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons
bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and
blessed be he that blesseth thee.
(Genesis 27:27-29)
<8>As the birthright was related to the
material part or inheritance of the nations of the promises of the
Lord to
Abraham, the blessing
of the father was related to the spiritual part, the dominance of
the spirit over others, the kings to the nations, the
scepter, and the messianic part of the promise.
<9>So with receiving the blessing from his
father and buying the birthright from Esau, Jacob became the
legitimate owner of both parts of the promises given by the Lord to
Abraham.
The
promises are repeated to
Jacob
And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and
said,
I am the Lord
God
of Abraham thy
father, and the
God
of Isaac: the
land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed;
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the
earth, and
thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east,
and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy
seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And, behold,
I am with thee, and
will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring
thee again into
this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that
which I have spoken to thee of.
(Genesis 28:13-15)
<10>The promises were repeated to Jacob,
after he received both the birthright and blessings. <11>Also,
the phrase, "...and thou shalt be spread abroad to the west, and to
the east,..." shows that his seed would go "abroad," meaning out of
the land (Canaan)
God would give to his seed,
and would be spread out all over the world.
Jacob's name becomes
Israel, a new promise is
given to him, and the old promises are repeated
And
God
said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called
any more Jacob, but
Israel shall
be
thy name: and he called his name
Israel.
And
God
said unto him,
I am
God
Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of
nations shall
be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
And the land which I gave
Abraham
and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee
will I give the
land.
(Genesis 35:10-12)
<12>The name of Jacob was changed to
Israel. It was actually
changed before (Gen. 32:26-28) but
God wanted him to be called with this name from now on.
<13>Also
the promise to
Israel about his seed
changed a little. His seed would inherit "a nation and a company of
nations" in the future. That relates to his birthright of material
possession.
<14>Also it should be noted that the promise
of many nations to Isaac would be fulfilled through both Esau and
Jacob (Israel), and
their seed.
Two sons of Joseph's
become
Israel's
(Jacob's)
<15>Israel
(Jacob) had twelve sons. The oldest from his wife Rachael was Joseph
(actual name is "Yoseph"). Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim. Israel took them as his
own sons and put his name
Israel on them.
And Jacob said unto Joseph,
God
Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of
Canaan, and blessed
me,
And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee
fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude
of
people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee
for an everlasting possession.
And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh,
which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I
came
unto thee into Egypt, are mine: as Reuben and Simeon, they shall
be mine.
(Genesis 48:3-5)
<16>So, Ephraim and Manasseh became
Israel's sons from this
point on, like his other sons ("as Reuben and Simeon, they shall
be mine.")
<17>Also, nothing is said here about the
family of earth being blessed by them or kings coming from them (scepter),
but they will possess the material part of the promises.
Israel blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, and prefers Ephraim over
Manasseh
And Joseph took them both [his sons], Ephraim
in his right hand toward
Israel's left hand,
and Manasseh
in his left hand toward
Israel's right hand,
and brought them near unto him.
And
Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon
Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left
hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for
Manasseh was the firstborn.
And he blessed Joseph, and said,
God, before whom my
fathers Abraham and
Isaac did walk, the
God
which fed me all my life long unto this day,
The
angel which redeemed me from all
evil, bless the lads; and
let my name be named on them, and the
name of my
fathers
Abraham and Isaac;
and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
(Genesis 48:13-16)
<18>Israel
(Jacob) blessed Joseph's sons but he put his right hand (which is
used for the blessing of the firstborn) over the head of Ephraim,
who was the younger one. By giving his name to them, they became as
his sons in sharing
Israel's blessings
(inheritance). They became one of the
Children of
Israel, "and let my name be named on them."
And when Joseph saw that his father laid his
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him:
and
he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head
unto Manasseh's head.
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my
father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his
head.
And his father refused, and said, I know it,
my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also
shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater
than he, and his seed shall become a multitude
of nations.
(Genesis 48:17-19)
<19>With accepting Joseph's sons as his own
and blessing them, then whatever
Israel gave to Joseph would go to these sons, especially to
Ephraim, because he was blessed over Manasseh. He would become "a
multitude of nations." Also he prophesied about the children in the
future.
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee
shall
Israel bless,
saying,
God make thee as
Ephraim and
as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh...
(Genesis 48:20)
<20>So he blessed them and prophesied that
people would want to be "as Ephraim and as Manasseh." They would
want to be as blessed as they were.
Next
|
