Gods Sabbath

C HAPTER 11

The Battle for the Birthright

A careful prayer-filled reading of Genesis 25:19–34 and Gen esis 27:1–28:22 together with Patriarchs and Prophets 177 to 194 can help to deepen the understanding of this chapter. T he great lesson Abraham learned from the birth of Isaac was that only through faith and correct procedures can God’s kingdom be built. We would expect that this lesson had been so thoroughly taught to Isaac that it would be an active principle in his life thereafter. But although this was evident in his sub mission to his father (see Genesis 22) and in his marriage ar rangements (see Genesis 24), this was not the case when it came to rearing his own children. After Isaac’s divinely arranged marriage with Rebekah, they were childless. But in answer to Isaac’s prayer, their twins, Esau and Jacob, were born. Esau arrived first, which entitled him to the material and spiritual birthright, but God’s answer to Re bekah’s prayer informed her that the younger, not the elder twin, was to excel. This was a statement from Jehovah indicat ing that the birthright was to go to Jacob. “And Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the L ORD on behalf of his

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