The sermon text for today is from Genesis 32:1-36:43. Do to the length of this passage, please use the button below to view the passage at BibleGateway.com

The sermon text for today is from Genesis 28:10-31:55. Do to the length of this passage, please use the button below to view the passage at BibleGateway.com

Genesis 26:35 - 28:9

Chapter 26
35.) They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

The Stolen Blessing
Chapter 27
1.) When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered, “Here I am.”

2.) He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death.
3.) Take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me.
4.) Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.”

5.) Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in,
6.) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said,
7.) ‘Bring me the game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’
8.) Now obey every order I give you, my son.
9.) Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves.
10.) Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.”

Genesis 26:1-34

The Promise Reaffirmed to Isaac
1.) There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.
2.) The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about;
3.) stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
4.) I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring,
5.) because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.”
6.) So Isaac settled in Gerar.

Isaac’s Deception
7.) When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.”
8.) When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9.) Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

10.) Then Abimelech said, “What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”
11.) So Abimelech warned all the people with these words: “Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die.”

Conflicts over Wells
12.) Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,
13.) and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.
14.) He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.
15.) The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.
16.) And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.

17.) So Isaac left there, camped in the Valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18.) Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
19.) Then Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.
20.) But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Quarrel because they quarreled with him.
21.) Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Hostility.
22.) He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Open Spaces and said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

The Lord Appears to Isaac
23.) From there he went up to Beer-sheba,
24.) and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham.”

25.) So he built an altar there, called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there.

Covenant with Abimelech
26.) Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
27.) Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you.”

28.) They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you:
29.) You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have only done what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.”

30.) So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank.
31.) They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
32.) On that same day Isaac’s slaves came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, “We have found water!”
33.) He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.

Esau’s Wives
34.) When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

Genesis 25:19-34

The Birth of Jacob and Esau
19.) These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac.
20.) Isaac was 40 years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21.) Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
22.) But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23.) And the Lord said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;
two people will come from you and be separated.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.

24.) When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.
25.) The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.
26.) After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

Esau Sells His Birthright
27.) When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.
28.) Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29.) Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted.
30.) He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom.

31.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

32.) “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

33.) Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.
34.) Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.




Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
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