Genesis 25 - Part C

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. These were the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years. So he died at the same age that Abraham was when his wife Sarah died. That's trivial. It doesn't mean anything. It just came to mind. And he died.

He breathed his last and was gathered to his people. They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur. And so you might read that and go, I don't know where that is. So the author wants you to know this, which is east of Egypt as you go down toward Assyria.

That's helpful, isn't it? No, it's not, because we don't know where that is. But somewhere in the Sinai Peninsula, it's out in the desert regions in ancient Arabia. That's where it was. He died in the presence of all his brethren.

Okay. What we just read, the names of these 12 princes and then the 13th, the big Kahuna, Ishmael, the early genealogies of Islam begin here. Islam regards Ishmael as a very important person. And though not every Muslim on earth can trace his physical genealogical heritage back to Ishmael, all Muslims can trace their spiritual heritage back to Ishmael. And that is because 12 times in the Quran, his name is mentioned. And he's mentioned as a very important person. In fact, in the Quran, it's called Surah or section, Surah 19 verse 54. It tells the reader that Ishmael was a prophet, a prophet, an apostle and a prophet.

Those two words are used. So he's very important and they trace a lot of their lineage back to Ishmael. Okay. So keeping that in mind, I've got to take you back. If you don't mind a couple of chapters, go back to chapter 16 to see something, to be reminded of it. I think it will be helpful in the rest of the biblical future as well as even in modern times. Verse 8 of chapter 16. He, the Lord said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?

And she said, I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit yourself under his hand. You see the word submit, very important concept in Islam. The word Muslim means one who submits, a submissive one. And they even believe that Abraham was the one who coined the term Muslim, submissive ones to the will of God. There is in their tradition the sentence that says, and Abraham called you Muslimin or the submitted ones, a very, very important concept.

Submit under her hand. According to Islamic tradition, Abraham and Ishmael traveled to Mecca and there they built a shrine called the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the holy shrine in Mecca where people go every year and make the pilgrimage. It is believed that Abraham and Ishmael are buried in Mecca even though the Bible says Abraham is buried where?

Hebron, the cave of Machpelah, Israel. His tomb is there even to this day. But according to Muslim tradition, Abraham and his son Ishmael are buried in Mecca. They founded, they built the Kaaba, the sacred shrine. Now just a note about the sacred shrine, the Kaaba. It was once a shrine that housed 360 different idols representing 360 various gods that were worshiped by the various Arab tribes in the region. Allah was one of those gods, of the multiplicity of gods. Allah was the moon god. Muhammad took a special, should I say, liking to Allah and claimed that he was the one true god and he wanted to unify all of the tribes. He squelched all of the other gods, killed those who did not submit and Islam was established.

But isn't it interesting that what is called today one of the three great monotheistic religions of the world actually began as a polytheistic religion? Well you move on and it says in verse 12, notice what is the future of Ishmael. He shall be a wild man. Now literally it's a wild donkey, is the text, a wild donkey. The term wild donkey refers to an animal called the anagar. It was not a slur, it was a compliment. You think, well that's not very good.

No, it's very good. An anagar was a fiercely independent animal of the desert and regarded and valued highly in that day. He's going to be fiercely independent is the idea. But notice this, his hand shall be against every man. And it speaks of a state of war or a state of being at feud with other people. And every man's hand against him and he will dwell in the presence or literally against all of his brethren. It's interesting prophecy because Muhammad himself is called the prophet of the sword and traces his lineage back to Ishmael, the prophet of the sword.

His hand will be against every man. Interesting prophecy, especially interesting in that Islam itself divides the entire world up into two camps and two camps only. Camp number one, Dar al-Islam, the house of Islam, the house of those who submit. Second class for the whole world, the other one if you're not Muslim, Dar al-Harb, house of war. You're either Muslim and of the house of Islam or the house of war. In the Quran there are 109 verses called war verses. One out of every 55 verses in the Quran is about making war, feuding against others.

Either an inclusive statement or a call to arms. It's just interesting in light of the origins of Ishmael and the prediction made about him and those who would follow him. So he breathed his last, he was buried, gathered with his people. They dwelt from Havilah, we already read that verse 19.

See how far we can get, we may be able to make it. This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah as wife.

She was obviously much younger, he was 40. The daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife.

Watch this, I love this. Here's a husband praying for his wife and here's why he's praying. Because she was barren, she can't have children. And the Lord granted his plea and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children were always seen as a direct blessing of God. Psalm 127, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his reward. Thus to have no children to be barren was as if you were left out or cursed. I'm not going to get into that theology but what I want you to understand is here's a husband praying for his wife.

I love this. I know we live in an advanced age, a modern age, the age of fertilization. You can go to specialists and figure out all sorts of ways of getting pregnant but please don't leave out the spiritual component where you say, Lord, how do you want us to plant our family? Who should be included? How many? We were able to have one son. He's better to me than 10.

He's a wonderful, wonderful guy even with a broken tibia. But we would have had many more if we could. The Lord knows those things. Some people are not able to have children but they can adopt and so the interesting thing I find so often story after story is we were unable to conceive so we adopt two children as soon as we did. My wife got pregnant.

There's two more, etc. The Lord knows those things. Bring God into the family planning and submit that to the Lord. So verse 21, Isaac pleaded with the Lord because she was barren and the Lord granted his plea and Rebekah his wife conceived but the children struggled together within her and she said, if all is well, why am I like this? You know it's tight in there. There's two kids in there and watch this. So she went to inquire of the Lord. What did she do?

She prayed and the Lord said to her, now watch what God says. Talk about being startled. Imagine this. Two nations are in your womb.

Yikes. Two nations. I just wanted a child and you're telling me I got two nations? Well of course it meant two children that would give birth to nations. The two nations are Israel and Edom. The Edomites and the Israelites. Two people shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger. Now I told you about a law called the law of promogeniture.

Isn't that a fancy long word? The law of promogeniture was what we see happening with Isaac and what we see here. We see a reversal of that law here.

Typically that law stated in that culture that the firstborn son has privileges and rights. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, it's more important than ever for Christians to stand for truth in our broken culture. And in the God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues collection of booklets from Skip Heitzig, you'll get equipped to speak God's timeless truth into the big issues of our time. God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give $50 or more today to help reach people around the world with the good news of Jesus through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Number one, he becomes the head of the family. The authority of the family falls upon him. He is the new sheikh or the new head.

Number two, he gets a double portion of the goods, the physical inheritance because the family line is being passed on to him. Now that will help you when you get to the whole story of the prophet Elijah and the other prophet Elisha who is following Elijah around, following around, following around and he finally said to Elijah, I want a double portion. What he's saying is I want to inherit your ministry. I want to take your place, so to speak.

I want to be the one who inherits this powerful ministry to the nation of Israel. But the law of premature is turned around here. It's not the first born, it's the second born. Which is funny because it seems to be almost a biblical precedent all the way through. It wasn't Ishmael, it was Isaac. It's not going to be Esau, it's going to be Jacob.

The Deliverer is going to be what the children of Israel didn't think of when Moses appears and says I'm the one God called to take you out of bondage. They didn't know what to do with Moses. And what about Joseph? He was the youngest at that time and scorned by his brothers. But he was the one God chose to be the prime minister of Egypt and really of the known world. So it's a beautiful principle and here's the lesson for us.

We make a grave mistake, and you'll see it here, when we start judging by appearances. Because when Esau is born, he's manly, he's hairy, it says. And they call him hairy because he's full of hair and his dad loved him.

He was a man of the field, he was a hunter. Jacob was a mild man, he was a man inside the tent, he liked to cook with mama, he could make a killer red chili stew, but he was a mild man. And the Bible says Rebecca loved Jacob, Esau loved, excuse me, Isaac loved Esau.

I should just read it and not have to tell it to you and then I won't get confused. So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. So you might say they were womb mates. Well they were, right? Were they?

Okay. They were womb mates. And the first came out red. And he was like a hairy garment.

I don't know what to do with that. It's just, it was like a hairy garment all over. So they called him hairy. That's what Esau means, hairy.

Here comes hairy. Afterward his brother came out and his hand took hold of Esau's heel. So his name was called Yaakov, one who grasps the heel or heel catcher.

So we have hairy and heel catcher. Those are the kids' names. The original idea of Yaakov was the idea that God is at my heels protecting me or protecting my son.

But because of the personality of Jacob, he seems to be one who grabs the heel to trip his brother up in life, it came to mean heel catcher, somebody who connives and manipulates to trip other people up. That was his name. And notice this, Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them.

So they had waited 20 years for children. So the boys grew and Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a mild man, see?

Mild man, dwelling in tents. What are we going to cut, mom? Nothing wrong with that today. I mean, some of the best chefs are men, but in those days, it's just a little weird. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Jacob cooked a stew and Esau came in from the field and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, please feed me with that same red stew. So just a pot of red chili. Let's just kind of make it contemporary for our culture.

Red chili on the stove. For I am weary. Therefore, his name is called Edom, which means red and the country of Edom will come from Esau. Now, before we finish the text and we'll set it up for the next time, Isaac loved his son Esau. He was a man's man. Hairy.

This is my kid. He's a man. He's hairy.

He likes to hunt, kill things. And he favored him. And in those days, and you can see it through his eyes and probably in the eyes of most men in many cultures, Esau was more attractive as a male specimen. More so than Jacob cooking meals with mom. So dad favored him. But here's the lesson. There's more than meets the eye.

When we start judging on outward appearance, we can miss the boat totally. Because this was not God's favored one. Esau was the firstborn, but the secondborn, as the prophecy said, will get the inheritance and be the one that God chooses. In fact, what does God call throughout the Bible? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So he's hugely important to the Jewish nation as one of the patriarchs. It's God's choice. So we often see this whole law of promogeniture or whatever it might be overturned. God says, no, forget that.

That's outward. I've chosen someone else. Later on we're going to read of Samuel the prophet going to search for a new king of Israel and he goes to the house of Jesse and he sees the firstborn named Eliab. And he looks at Eliab. He's tall and he's handsome. He's good looking.

He's strong. And Samuel immediately judges by outward appearance. He said, surely this is the Lord's anointed. And God interrupts his thought process and said, nope, I've rejected him. For the Lord does not see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. And you find this principle, by the way, all throughout the Bible.

And I want you to know how good that is. We fit into it. We even find in the New Testament, Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth. And remember when Nathaniel heard about that and said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Yeah, like the Messiah, the Savior. Now here's the principle. I'll call it the Nazareth principle. As soon as people say, can anything good come from that town or can anything good come from that person, it's like God is waiting to show the world what God can do through that town or that person.

He is. That's a biblical principle. It's like, oh really? Can anything good come from that person or that place? Watch. Watch what I can do. Now when we get to 1 Corinthians chapter one, Paul says, you see your calling, brethren. Not many mighty, not many noble after the flesh are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and the weak things of this world to put to shame the things that are mighty, that no flesh would glory in his presence.

So here's the principle. Mighty God chooses pretty lame instruments to work through. God doesn't look for the most educated and the mighty and the this and the that. He looks for just like broken people, beat up people, people that the world would trash and say, can anything good come from that person? God says, oh yeah, watch this. And here's why he does it, that no flesh would glory in his presence.

You know what it's like? If there was a surgeon in a modern surgical suite with all of the latest gizmos and gadgets to be able to perform a surgery, if he could do it or she could do it under those conditions, that would be expected. But if that same surgeon was in the middle of the jungle and only had a Swiss army knife and some yarn to sew the person up, if he could or she could successfully perform that operation under those conditions, that person would be greatly applauded as somebody who's above and beyond.

Why? Because they're confined to meager tools. So God chooses meager tools so that he gets the glory so that when God does something, it's all about him and not about the tool.

We go, that was a pretty cool tool. Yeah, no wonder God used that person. He's so smart or she's so this or he's like, I don't get it. I don't know why God used that person. Can anything good come from that person? Do you see what God's all about? That's God's style. That's why when I first read that verse in 1 Corinthians, I went, yeah, that's my life verse from now on because I know the truth about me and those who know me well also know the truth about me.

So I love it and you should love it because God will choose what the world does not choose or looks over or ill regards. So Jacob, verse 31, and we'll close as we take it to verse 34. Jacob said, sell me your birthright as of this day.

And Esau said, look, I'm about to die. What is this birthright to me? It's just a promise. I can't eat a promise.

I'm hungry. Jacob said, swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and a stew of lentils, a little red chili on the side. And then he ate and drank, arose and went his way and Esau despised his birthright.

And we'll explain more of that as we get into this story later on. I have a question. In light of the fact of a person making the birthright, which was a spiritual, not just a physical heritage, but a spiritual one, despising it. Could it be that some here are despising, so to speak, their birthright? You're not valuing what is most valuable in life. That is a spiritual inheritance, spiritual life, spiritual things. Now we read a couple of times in this chapter, so and so died and was gathered together with his people. And this guy died and he was gathered together with his people. One day you're going to die.

One day the local newspaper, wherever you end up dying, will have your obituary in it. You will be gathered to your people. Now if your people happen to be God's people, you're going to be surrounded with God's people the moment you die and in the presence of God. If your people were the worldly people and you didn't care about the birthright, spiritual things, you'll be gathered to your people. The best time to start a godly life is while you're young.

And then you develop a habit and a practice that becomes the fabric of your life. Oh yeah, you can wait until your deathbed to receive Christ. But I love what Solomon says, seek now your Creator in the days of your youth. Best choice a young person can make is to give their lives to Christ. Best choice a middle-aged person can make.

Best choice an older person can make. But don't leave earth without a relationship with the Author of life through Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently speak God's timeless truth into our culture.

Pastor Skip's God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues collection of booklets is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.