Opening Prayer
Psalm 129
A song of ascents.
1 Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not get involved with things
too great or too wondrous for me.
2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted my soul
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like a weaned child.
3 Israel, put your hope in
the Lord,
both now and forever.
Getting Started
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you held onto from last week?
Did any lesson from last week’s session impact your life?
9:6-8
6 Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
9:7-9
Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 8 That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring. 9 For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.
v. 7
Genesis 15:1-5 - After these events, the word of
the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield;
your reward will be very great.
2 But Abram
said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir
of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram
continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my
house will be my heir.”
4 Now the
word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir;
instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He
took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are
able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that
numerous.”
Genesis 16:1-2 - Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne
any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said
to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go
to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to
what Sarai said.
-
Ishmael – “God hears.”
-
El-roi – “God sees me.”
Genesis 17:3-6 - God spoke with [Abram]: 4 “As
for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. 5 Your
name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will
make you the father of many nations. 6 I will make
you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
Genesis 17:15-21 - 15 God said
to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will
be her name. 16 I will bless her; indeed, I will
give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations;
kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham
fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born
to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give
birth?” 18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael
were acceptable to you!”
19 But God
said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him
Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his
future offspring. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard
you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him
greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a
great nation. 21 But I will confirm my covenant
with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
Genesis 18:9-15 - “Where is your wife Sarah?” they
asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he answered.
10 The Lord said,
“I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife
Sarah will have a son!”[1] Now
Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.
11 Abraham
and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of
childbearing. 12 So she laughed to herself: “After
I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?”
13 But
the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really
have a baby when I’m old?’ 14 Is anything
impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back
to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”
15 Sarah
denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid.
But he replied, “No, you did
laugh.”
Genesis 21
-
1-7 – The Birth of Isaac
-
8-21 – Hagar and Ishmael sent away
o
V. 12 - God said to Abraham, “Do not be
distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you,
listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac, 13 and
I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your
offspring.”
o
V. 17 – What does Ishmael mean?
o
V. 19 – What was Hagar’s name for God?
How many children did Abraham have?
-
Isaac and Ishmael are juxtaposed
-
Same father. Different mothers.
How many of those children carried the promise to bless the
nations, which goes all the way back to Genesis 3?
9:10-15
And not only that, but Rebekah conceived
children through one man, our father Isaac. 11 For
though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that
God’s purpose according to election might stand— 12 not
from works but from the one who calls—she was told, The older will
serve the younger. 13 As it is written: I
have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.
Genesis 25:21-26
-
Isaac and Rebekah – two sons together.
o
V. 21 – Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of
his wife because she was childless.
o
Not just “childless” – “baren” … like Sarah.
o
There is a sense of miracle in the birth of the
twins.
-
V. 23 – The older will serve the younger.
o
Notice that this is out of the normal
arrangement of the society.
o
Notice also that while the prophecy also speaks
of the nations that come from the twins, Paul is only focused on the boys to
make his comparison.
o
On what basis was this to be the case?
§
See Romans 9:11
§
As with Isaac the matter is not genetics, but
God’s calling – his purpose and election.
§
Romans 9:12 – not from works but from the
one who calls
§
The emphasis in on a Child of the Promise.
Malachi 1:2-3 - “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s
brother?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved
Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau.”
This is an uncomfortable word.
-
Love and Hate as opposites in modern language.
-
Love – agapé – a specific type of love.
-
Hate
– perhaps not the best translation of the word.
o
Genesis
29 – Jacob, Rachel and Leah.
o
Jacob
loved Rachel.
o
Jacob
hated Leah? (Gen 29:31 & 33)
§
Yet
Jacob had six sons with Leah.
-
The comparison is what is important to highlight
God’s choosing.
-
Spurned might be a better translation.
o
Deuteronomy 21:15-17 – “If a man has two
wives, one loved and the other neglected (literally - hated), and
both the loved and the neglected bear him sons, and if the neglected wife has
the firstborn son, 16 when that man gives what he
has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of
the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the neglected wife. 17 He
must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the neglected wife, by giving him
two shares[a][b] of his estate, for he
is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn.
o
Luke 14:26 – “If anyone comes to
me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.”
o
John 12:25 – “The one who loves his life
will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will
keep it for eternal life.”
o
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two
masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
o
Key understanding from this passage:
-
In this context “love” and “hate” are not God’s
emotions toward Jacob and Esau.
o
The contrast is about who receives the Promise
and covenant of having the Messiah as a direct descendant.
-
“Love” and “hate” are not about election or
predestination.
o
Note that in Malachi 1 the verbs are past tense
“loved” and “hated/spurned”.
-
Ishmael and Esau – both rejected regarding being
bearers of the Promise – still lived in God’s merciful care.
o
God made Ishmael into a great nation. (Genesis
17:20)
o
Isaac blessed Esau (Gen 27:39-40)
o
Genesis 36 – Esau’s descendants become a nation
called Edom.
o
Deut 23:7 – God commanded Israel, “Do not
despise an Edomite, because he is your brother.”
-
The rejecting/hating/spurning is in regard to
being in the line of those who bear the Promise.
Wrapping Up
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you hope to hold onto from these verse?
How will the lessons learned from these verses impact your
faith life?
Verse of the Week – Luke 18:15-17
15 People were
bringing infants to him so that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw
it, they rebuked them. 16 Jesus, however, invited
them: “Let the little children come to me, and don’t stop them,
because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly
I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little
child will never enter it.”
[1]
Bold Italic Verses are being emphasized by me. The Bold words in Romans are
Scripture quotations.
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