Sharper Iron & Truth in Genesis: Snitches Get Stitches

Rev. Shawn Linnell, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Blair, Nebraska, studies Genesis 27:41-28:9 on today’s episode. Rev. Linnell talks about false repentance, how the 4th and 5th Commandments are related, what it means to tempt God, 8th Commandment charity, how God provides through His promises, a blessing versus a wish, and the importance of virtuous marriage.

“In the Beginning was the Truth” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron featuring a step-by-step walk through the book of Genesis, focusing on the truth of Jesus, the story of salvation found throughout the book, and how we view our lives through the lens of God’s promises. Sharper Iron is hosted by Rev. Jonathan Fisk.

Genesis 27:41-28:9

⁴¹Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴²But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran ⁴⁴and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— ⁴⁵until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.^[a] If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Jacob Sent to Laban

28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. ²Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.³God Almighty^[b] bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”⁵Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Esau Marries an Ishmaelite

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, ⁹Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.