Ge. 25: The Greatest Stew in the History of Man

Chapter 25 opens describing how Abraham took a second wife: Keturah. I think this is for a couple of reasons. The first is that maybe he was still trying to kick God's promise into gear. After all these promises, after all these signs, could he really be trying to take over and do it himself? To help God out perhaps? As we have seen previously, forcing God's hand can lead to problems. See Hagar. And let's not forget that in Gen. 17:19, God says He will establish His covenant with Isaac anyway.

The other reason, possibly, is that Abraham needed a companion. What's wrong with taking a second wife in case of death? He could have been lonely, and needed that type of intimacy. After all, "things" have only been "working" for a few years.

Anyway, Keturah gives Abraham a quintet of sons...maybe some daughters, but unless I'm mistaken, only in the case of Rebekah have daughters been mentioned. Crazy sexist Bible. Would these sons ally themselves with Isaac, or be enemies to Abraham's descendants? I don't know yet. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say probably not.

Abraham probably didn't endear himself to Keturah's sons by leaving all of his vast wealth and land to Isaac, although he did offer them some nice parting gifts before sending them on their way.

Abraham kicked off after 175 years, a good old age indeed as prophesied in Gen. 15:15. Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their old man in Machpelah with Sarah. Apparently still on friendly terms with the Hittites.

Ishmael, as God promised, was fruitful and had 12 sons with the wife from Egypt that Hagar found for him as mentioned in Gen. 21:21.

Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 12 sons. Just as the Angel of the LORD said to Hagar in Gen 16:12, they lived in hostility toward their brothers. Well, I guess that answers my question.

Isaac didn't have it as easy to begin with as Ishmael. Rebekah, as hot as she was, turned out to be barren. So he did what Abraham exemplified, Isaac took it to the LORD in prayer. Abraham must have raised Isaac in the culture of prayer, and walking with God daily...Chapter 22 being the most amazing example.

As promised, God heard Isaac's prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. With two. With two jostlers, who wrestled in the womb. This was all weird and scary to Rebekah. She asked God about it as well.

"What's the deal?"

"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." Kind of cryptic sounding, but actually pretty clear. That kind of thing would be hard for me to hear. I'd want my kids to get along, and be friends for life, especially if they were twins. So...not only will they possibly not get along, their whole lines will be at each other's throats.

The first on the twins to come out was all red and hairy, so he was named Esau, which I guess means "red" or "hairy" or a combination of both. Good thing he wasn't pink. The next little fella came out grasping Esau's heel, so he was given the name "Jacob," meaning heel-grasper. Hmm...where else have we heard about heels? Possibly unrelated, but there is some importance to the heel.

Esau grows up to be a skillful hunter, while Jacob kind of mellows out and hangs around the tents. Isaac, who loved the taste of wild game preferred Esau, but Rebekah favored Jacob.

OK, this one time, like Esau came back from hunting all starved, and momma's boy Jacob had made some red stew. Esau could not wait to get that stew in him. He's all like, "Quick, give me some stew." Jacob realized it was time to be an exploiter, and told Esau to sell him his birthright...his inheritance, you know? Drama queen Esau was like, "I'm dying anyway, what good is my birthright?" So he swore an oath to Jacob, that for a bowl of stew, Jacob would receive all Isaac owned. Nice deal, Esau, way to be.

Questions for God:
1. Wow, I...cool. I'm glad I can just ask for something. Why would you want to keep hearing the minutia begged for by all of humanity. Well, not all humanity...those who call upon you?

• Noah: 1046 - 1996
• Shem: 1548 - 2148
• Flood and the shortened lifespan - 1646
• Arphaxad: 1648 - 2086
• Shelah: 1683 - 2116
• Eber: 1713 - 2143
• Peleg: 1747 - 1956
• Reu: 1777 - 2016
• Serug: 1809 - 2039
• Nahor: 1839 - 1987
• Terah: 1868 - 2073
• Abraham: 1938 - 2113
• Ishmael: 2024 - 2161
• Isaac: 2038 -
• Jacob: 2098 -
  
• Esau: 2098 -