Hebrew History Part 2

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We began our study of Hebrew History last week, and this week we continue as we see the Abrahamic Covenant confirmed to Isaac.

I. Abrahamic Covenant Confirmed to Isaac

Gen 25:19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:

Gen 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

Gen 25:21 And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Gen 25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.

Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Gen 25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

Gen 25:25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Abraham had 2 sons. The first was Ishmael by Sarah’s handmaid Hagar, and the second was Isaac which was born of Sarah when she was over 90 years old. I’m sure that Abraham had to doubt if God was really going to bless all the nations of the earth like he had promised him when he turned a 100 years old and had no children. But God is faithful, and what he promises always comes to pass. Lots of promises are in the Bible. Men promised to do a lot for God or one another, and many times failed. But not one of over 800 promises God made in the Old Testament ever failed.

Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Num 23:20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

We know that Sarah was distressed in not waiting patiently on God, and began to hate Hagar for having the son. Ultimately, both Hagar and Ishamel were cast out, and Isaac became heir of all things.

Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

Gen 26:1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

Gen 26:2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

Gen 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

Gen 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

Gen 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Gen 26:6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

Gerar was an area occupied by the Philistines. Gerar was in the land of Canaan. The Philistines were arch enemies to Israel, and we will notice much about them as we cover the times of Judges and the Kings of Israel.

We can tell by verse 2 that God directed Abraham to not go down to Egypt, implying that he had intentions on doing so. We know that during this time that there was a severe famine in the land and many went to Egypt at this time.

In Genesis 26:17, we see Isaac in the valley of Gerar.

Gen 26:17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

Later we see Isaac leaving the valley of Gerar and coming to Beer-sheba.

Gen 26:23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

II. In Genesis 28 and chapter 29, we find Jacob dwelling at Haran and going to Padan-aram.

Gen 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Gen 28:2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.

Gen 28:3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

Gen 28:4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

Gen 29:1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.

Gen 29:2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well's mouth.

Gen 29:3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.

Gen 29:4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.

I think that where ever God desires for us to be, we need to be willing to go there and to be happy in that place. We have had several missionaries say that they do not understand why God called them to that exact place, like Brother Don Newland, missionary to Viet-Nam. But like he said, I’d rather be there in God’s Will than be in the safest place in the world out of God’s Will. If we find the place God wants us to be and just be happy in that state like Paul did during his lifetime.

Phil 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Phil 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

After 20 years, God appeared to Jacob and told him to return to Bethel.

Gen 31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

Jacob then leaves and comes to Shalem.

Gen 33:18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.

Gen 33:19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

Gen 33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.

Jacob then leaves Shalem and goes to Bethel, the place God told him to return.

Gen 35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

Gen 35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

Gen 35:3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

Gen 35:4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

Gen 35:5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

Gen 35:6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

Gen 35:7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

To be in the place God wants us to be should be the most important thing for each of us. Many never give a thought what they should be doing for God, or where He would have them be. But you and I as Christians should seek the Will of God in all things, because Jesus paid a real price for our sins. We were bought with a price, and we are to glorify Jesus and God with our lives.

1 Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We see Jacob dwelling in Canaan with his family and sons.

Gen 37:1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

We mentioned last week that Abraham went where ever God sent him, and was considered a stranger and pilgrim in the land. We need to realize that we too are strangers and pilgrims in this land. We should never hold onto things down here on earth too tightly. Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian writer, once said to never hold onto things down here too tightly, because it can hurt very hard when God takes it away from us. But if we’ve given our all to God, and realize that all we have is just loaned to us anyway, if God wants it back, we will quickly relinquish it and it will not hurt a bit. But that takes dedication and faith in God’s sovereignty over our lives.

III. In Genesis 43, we read of a great famine coming in all the Land.

Gen 43:1 And the famine was sore in the land.

Gen 43:2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.

The famine was so severe, that Jacob is brought down into the land of Egypt.

Gen 46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.

Gen 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.

Gen 46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:

Gen 46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

Gen 46:5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

Gen 46:6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:

We know this followed the trips that Jacob’s sons had made down to get corn earlier which was given to them by the second in charge in Egypt, which was their brother Joseph who they had sold into bondage earlier and told their father that a wild animal had killed and eaten. But God was with Joseph all the way, and used Joseph to save many peoples lives by showing Pharoah how they should store up the food for 7 years during the good years preceding the 7 years of famine.

We see that after they came to Egypt, they dwelt in the land of Goshen.

Gen 47:6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

IV. God changes Jacob’s name to Israel (Gen 32:28), and his 12 sons make up the 12 tribes of Israel. We see that Israel wound up in Egypt for 430 years because a Pharoah rose up that knew not Joseph, and feared the people due to their large number. The last 400 years were years of bondage.

Exo 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

Exo 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

Exo 1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

Exo 1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

Exo 1:14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

God told Abraham ahead of time that his seed would be strangers in a land that was not theirs and serve these people 400 years.

Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

You might wonder why God would permit his chosen people to become slaves. It goes back to always reaping what you sow. Remember what Jacob’s older sons had done… they sold their brother to merchant men who took him into Egypt. Sin does have a price, and sometimes it is a lot tougher to pay than we ever think it will be.

Gen 37:28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

They sold their brother into slavery, and wound up being slaves themselves. We need to be careful to always do right, because we reap what we sow, and we always reap more than we sow. If we are sowing good all the time, we get back much good in our lives. But if we are sowing bad, it seems like there is no way to stop it when it starts coming back on us.

Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

They were not allowed to come out of Egypt until the fourth Generation when God raised up Moses to lead his people out.

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

We see the iniquity of the Amorites was not full until the 400 years was completed.

V. Their Deliverance from Egypt came around 1290 B.C.

The plagues in the land of Egypt had their purpose. They demonstrated the power of God, the inability of the gods of Egypt to help the people, and to ultimately declare the Lord as a supreme God. After those 400 years of bondage, the people knew who God was, and He and He alone could deliver them.

We see that they came out after the death of the first born in each family in the land of Egypt when the Lord came and slew all who did not have the blood over the lintels of the doorposts.

Exo 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

Exo 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Exo 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

So exactly according to the time God promised, the people were delivered out of bondage. God never lies, and does exactly what he says and promises. A mark of a mature Christian is to be that way, to do what we say and do it exactly as we promise others. We may fail, God will never fail.

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