Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 49
25:31–26:14
G enesis
37
Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name,
Edom, which means “red.”)
“All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright
to me now?”
But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So
Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his
brother, Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal,
then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.
A severe famine now struck the land, as had happened before in Abraham’s
time. So Isaac moved to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines,
lived.
The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, but
do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you
and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and
your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father. I
will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the
sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants
all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham
listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and
instructions.” So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he
said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought,
“They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.” But some time
later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw
Isaac caressing Rebekah.
Immediately, Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, “She is obviously your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
“Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me,” Isaac
replied.
“How could you do this to us?” Abimelech exclaimed. “One of my
people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would
have made us guilty of great sin.”
Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone who touches
this man or his wife will be put to death!”
When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more
grain than he planted, for the Lord blessed him. He became a very rich
man, and his wealth continued to grow. He acquired so many flocks of
sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became
