Did you notice the note about Sarah being the only women whose age at death is recorded in the Bible? There is a triva question the next time you want to impress someone in a small group.
Another interesting thing that is brought out is that Sarah was buried in the promised land, in the same place that Abraham and the patriarchs that came after him would be buried.
In Chapter 25 we see how God is the one who determines who will serve him and that the rights of the firstborn do not always go to the first born. Here Esau is the first born but it is Jacob who ends up with the birthright and that is something that God predetermined. In the same way to be a child of Abraham doesn't mean you have to be one physically. It is by faith that Abraham believed God and was credited with righteousness and it is by faith that we become children of Abraham and Children of God.
We see in Chapter 26 that Isaac followed in the sinful footsteps of his father in saying that his wife was his sister so as to save his own skin. There is no perfect holy man in this life, even the best ones are also great sinners.
In chapter 28 after Jacob has been blessed with the blessing of the first born that physically was Esau's we see the character of sin come out. Esau instead of being repentant for selling his birthright deliberately went off and sinned by marrying a woman that his parents forbid him to marry. Sin leads to more sin and so on. Meanwhile Jacob gets visited by God and worships God in that place. It is the start for what will be many hard years for him, but God here promises to be his God no matter what.
Pastor Fred
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2 comments:
Not of any real significance, but is there any indication that (in 32:17) "Leah's eyes were weak" implies that her vision was somehow compromised? The notes lean toward their appearance being dull but in verse 32 Leah refers to her "affliction" and since Rachel is the barren one, what is Leah's affliction?
Actually it has always been thought that it meant she was not attractive compared to rachel. It apparently made other people's eyes weak to look at her.
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