Monday, January 11, 2016

The second wife of Abraham is often forgotten. After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife named Keturah and she bore him six sons. He even had sons by his concubines. He was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and then he fathered more children after age 100!

An interesting side note -Abraham and Sarah's burial site is a place of contention among Muslims, Jews, and Christians. No surprise there, scripture tells us that the descendants of Ishmael "lived in hostility toward all their brothers." Genesis 25:18
And so they do...even now.

In the commentary of the Chronological Bible on page 52 it mentions that the major events of the first 2500 years have been chronicled as only a brief outline. There are however other writings that fill in many details.

Isaac and Rebekah waited 20 years for the birth of their only sons, Esau and Jacob.  Isaac was 60 when the sons were born to Rebekah.

Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. This was a legitimate transaction, unfair though it may seem.  
Genesis 25:34
So Esau despised his birthright.
The birthright had no value for Esau.

When there is another famine in the land Isaac heads south toward Egypt. Sound familiar? Isaac lands in Gerar which is near Egypt in southern Israel. There Isaac lies to the men in the land telling them that Rebekah is his sister. Sound familiar?  Even though she was not his sister, Isaac and Rebekah were blood related.  Rebekah was the daughter of Isaac's cousin Bethuel. 

To his credit, Isaac obeys God's instructions to stay away from Egypt. And there Isaac is blessed tremendously.
Genesis 26:24
That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

God promised Isaac that He would bless him because of what his father Abraham had done. Does that make us want to be obedient to the Lord knowing that it will bless our children and future generations? A point to ponder, wouldn't you say?

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