Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 25 - 27

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Introduction

!! THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, \\ And sorry I could not travel both \\ And be one traveler, long I stood \\ And looked down one as far as I could \\ To where it bent in the undergrowth; \\ Then took the other, as just as fair, \\ And having perhaps the better claim, \\ Because it was grassy and wanted wear; \\ Though as for that the passing there \\ Had worn them really about the same, \\ And both that morning equally lay \\ In leaves no step had trodden black.

\\ Oh, I kept the first for another day!

\\ Yet knowing how way leads on to way, \\ I doubted if I should ever come back.

\\ I shall be telling this with a sigh \\ Somewhere ages and ages hence: \\ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- \\ I took the one less traveled by, \\ And that has made all the difference.

Imagine, if you will, that you are standing at the place where two roads diverge.

Frost speaks about looking down the road as far as he can see to find out which was the better path.

What if we could see what the path of our life is like and where the road ends up?

This is not just literature, it is life and we are standing at the place where two roads diverge.

Which path will we take?

Wouldn’t it be great to know where each road ends up and what it means to walk along each?

The text we will look at today, Genesis 25-27, helps us gain such a knowledge and make such a decision.

Last week, in Genesis 24, we looked at the story of Isaac finding a bride.

Now we learn that Abraham has died and was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael.

Then in Genesis 25:19, we begin “the account of Abraham’s son Isaac.”

As we have already seen, one of the key issues in Genesis is the story of God’s plan.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God prepared a plan by which he would save people from their sins and re-establish a relationship with them.

He chose to carry out that plan through one family who would carry the knowledge of God to the world and through whom He would send his Son to redeem the world.

That one family began with Abraham, who was called and responded in faith to God.

It goes on through Isaac and also to the next generation.

After 20 years of marriage, Isaac and Rebekah still had no children.

They prayed about it and Rebekah conceived.

Her pregnancy, however, was not easy and she was in so much anguish that she inquired of the Lord why it was so difficult.

God answered her with the prophecy given in Genesis 25:23, “The LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’”

In this prophecy we see that although both were children of Isaac and Rebekah, only one would be the child who would carry the promises of God forward to the next generation.

One was chosen to be the family line of those who follow God.

In these two nations born to Rebekah, we see the two paths.

One path leads to God the other one leads to destruction.

In Malachi 1:2-4 God speaks again about these two paths and their ultimate outcome.

There we read, “I have loved you,’ says the LORD.

‘But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ the LORD says.

‘Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Edom (another name for Esau) may say, ‘Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.’

But this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘They may build, but I will demolish.

They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD.’”

These two paths were present when Jacob and Esau were born and the two paths are still with us today.

Just because we are born of a Christian family or attend church regularly does not mean that we are walking on the path of God’s people.

The things which characterize the people of God and those who do not follow His path are revealed in the stories of Jacob and Esau and we need to learn these things as we make choices about the road we will follow.

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I.

Those Who Don’t Follow His Path

            It is in the life of Esau that we see why he was rejected by God.

There are two incidents which demonstrate the characteristics of those who are on the path which leads away from God.

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Not Interested In God’s Plan

            Esau was the older son of Rebekah and Isaac.

The first thing we learn about him is that he loved to hunt and was a skilful hunter.

Jacob, on the other hand, was a “quiet man” who was more interested in tending livestock and staying at home.

We also learn that Isaac, who loved the taste of wild game, loved Esau but Rebekah loved Jacob.

It is evident that this favoritism of the parents did not make for good family relationships.

One day when Esau had been out hunting, he came back and was very tired and hungry.

He found Jacob cooking some stew and asked for some.

Jacob’s meaner side showed up when he offered some “if Esau would sell him his birthright.”

Although not always the case, we have already seen evidence that sometimes a father would give the major portion of his estate to the oldest son and much smaller portions to other children.

This was the case with Ishmael and Isaac in the sense that Isaac was the oldest son of Abraham and Sarah and the other children of Abraham who are mentioned in Genesis 25 are merely given gifts.

So to be the oldest son was important.

Prophecy had already indicated that, in the case of Jacob and Esau, the older would serve the younger and this is the beginning of that progress.

Jacob desired this birthright and seized this opportunity to get it.

Although we may wonder how desperately famished Esau really was, he seems to think that he was in such a desperate situation that if he did not get food he would die and so willingly agreed to give up his birthright for a meal.

The text comments on this incident in Genesis 25:34 where it says, “So Esau despised his birthright.”

This comment interprets what happened for us and is negative towards Esau.

Further commentary on this incident is added later in Hebrews 12:16,17 where it says, “See that no one is… godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.”

It is evident that this was about more than giving up the financial inheritance.

The Bible recognizes that Esau was a godless man.

The birthright he was giving up was a significant birthright.

It had to do with the plan of God.

It had to do with being the one who would carry the redemptive work of God to the next generation.

When Hebrews says that he was godless, what it interprets this story to mean is that Esau did not care about the things of God.

A commentary on Hebrews says that he had a “lack of any sense of spiritual values.”

And so it is with those who choose the path that leads away from God.

Those who walk on it are people who do not care about the things of God.

They have no interest in following God or knowing God.

If you find that your own desires and appetites are more important to you than the things of God, you may be on this path away from God.

I remember the joy of a young fellow who came to youth group.

He was excited to know God and after high school attended Bible school and rejoiced to grow in faith.

I heard about him not too long ago and found out he was not walking with the Lord any more.

After he got a job, making money and becoming a success became more important to him than the things of God and so he left them.

It made me sad.

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Not Interested In God’s Way

            We see that not only was there a carelessness about being on the path of God, there was also a carelessness about a godly lifestyle.

In Genesis 26:34,35, we read that Esau married and the women he married were Canaanite women.

In the story of Isaac, we have already realized that for the people who want to follow God, this was not acceptable.

He married two wives and Genesis 26:35 indicates that “They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.”

It is interesting that even though Isaac loved Esau, he was still grieved by his choice of a wife.

The dangers of wives who were not interested in the path of  God was that they would lead Esau down a similar path and he was willing to go down that path.

Further into the story, we encounter Esau after he had been cheated out of the blessing of his father by Jacob.

He became very angry and in his hatred and jealousy, Genesis 28:41 tells us, “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him.

He said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.’”

This determination reminds us of Cain and Abel and we see what kind of a heart there was in Esau.

This is characteristic of those who do not want to follow God’s path.

They are willing to engage in activities that are contrary to God’s righteous and holy way.

They are willing to disobey God’s commands and follow their own way instead.

What does your lifestyle tell about where your heart is?

Do the actions of your life reveal that you are not interested in God’s way of righteousness?

If so, you are on the path of Esau, the path away from God, the path that leads to destruction.

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II.

Those Who Follow His Path