Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 48
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IMMERSE
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BEGINNINGS
25:12-30
This is the account of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through
Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant.
Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah,
Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These twelve sons of
Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped. Ishmael lived for 137 years.
Then he breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. Ishmael’s
descendants occupied the region from Havilah to Shur, which is east of
Egypt in the direction of Asshur. There they lived in open hostility toward
all their relatives.
This is the account of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of
Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the
Aramean.
Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah
became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled with each
other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this
happening to me?” she asked.
And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two
nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your
younger son.”
And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did
indeed have twins! The first one was very red at birth and covered with
thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. Then the other twin was
born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac
was sixty years old when the twins were born.
As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac
loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home,
but Rebekah loved Jacob.
One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from
the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved!
