Year 1, Day 25: Genesis 26

Repetition

Genesis 26 almost reads like a summary of Abraham’s life.  Did not Abraham deal with famine?  Did not Abraham get into a bit of trouble passing off his wife as a sister?  Did not Abraham make a pact with the Philistine kings about land use and being a sojourner? 

I don’t know if this really works the whole way or not, but it definitely reads in a “sins of the father / sins of the son” sort of manner.  I recognize that the only bad thing Isaac does in this chapter is try to pawn off Rebekah as a sister instead of a wife.  But whether for good or bad, I think it is worth contemplating how the decisions of parents affect the decisions of their children.  Good role models often – but not always – produce good products.  Bad role models often – but again, not always – produce bad products.  Here we get reality.  Abraham was a good role model for the most part.  So most of the things Isaac copies him in were likewise good decisions.

I’ve lifted up the negative example of this, so now let me lift up a positive example.  We can look at the blessings.  God told Abraham that he would be blessed, but it was still up to Abraham to respond faithfully.  The same thing is true with respect to Isaac.  God promises blessing to him, but it is up to him to live faithfully with respect to God.  He does so, giving praise to God when things go well.  Isaac learned faith from his father.

The Green-Eye of Envy

I am also led to contemplate the Philistine’s approach in Genesis 26:12-16.  Notice that God prospers Isaac and the Philistines grow envious.  Logic would dictate that if they were smart they would become Isaac’s friends, try to glean off of his success, and hopefully see if they can learn to imitate what makes him successful.  In this case, it would behoove them to imitate his faith. 

However, human history tells us that human nature does not follow logic.  Human nature tells us when a faithful person comes around people run them off, abuse them, accuse them, or just downright kill them.  Think of Jesus.  Jesus was run off in more places than I’d care to count.  Ultimately, Jesus was killed.  Thousands saw miracles and even more ate food from miraculous preparations!  But when push came to shove they ignored Him, abused Him, persecuted Him, chased Him away, or killed Him. 

The world does not want to learn from faithful people because it implies work and it implies change.  The majority of the world would rather perpetuate their bad habits or laziness.  We see that here in the Philistines in that their habits are certainly not causing them to prosper like Isaac did. 

They don’t want to adopt practices that work.  God gives us free will to choose.  Follow the faithful or not, it is always our choice.

Esau Makes Life Bitter

Last but not least, let’s look at this concluding passage about Esau.  We know Isaac loved Esau.  Oh how his heart must have broken when Esau took wives from among the Philistines and not from among his own people as Abraham and Isaac had.  Oh, how Isaac must have grieved the rebellion that his son displayed.  Oh, how the love of parents endures great pain – yet continues to love.

How did Esau fall so fast with such good role models?  Abraham was not perfect – neither was Isaac.  But they were good.  Here again we see Esau showing little value for his “birth-faithfulness.” 

Remember the despising of his birthright yesterday?  He abandons the ways of his people as quickly and with as little thought as he abandoned his birthright.  But notice that he doesn’t just abandon it with respect to the origin of the wife.  Esau also abandons the practice of monogamy.  Esau takes two wives.  Esau takes an intimate bond of which God desires to be the third party and instead Esau makes his own threesome.  It is unfortunate when people undervalue God’s presence so readily.

Of course this doesn’t mean that God abandoned Esau – or even that Isaac does.  We will see in other places of the Bible where Esau is still remembered. Sometimes they will be good remembrances and other times they will be bad.  So God is filled with grace, even when people abandon God.  But it is still time to mourn.  Anytime people abandon God it is a time to feel sorrow, because it is often too easy to follow the thoughtless patterns of behavior that leads people away from God.  And that is sad.

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