Esau is still blessed. We also see the continued fruit of having favourites within families with Jacob, Joseph and his coat. The wrath of his jealous brothers would cause grief for many years – though the Lord is over it all.
Genesis 36: Esau's Descendants
1 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).
2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel;
5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob.
7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock.
8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)
9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.
10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.
11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.
12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.
13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,
16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.
17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.
19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.
20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.
23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father.
25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.
26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.
27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir.
31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites.
32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah.
33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place.
34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.
35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith.
36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place.
37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place.
38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place.
39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.
40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,
41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,
42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,
43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.
Genesis 37: Joseph's Dreams
1 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colours.
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, "Hear this dream that I have dreamed:
7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf."
8 His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, "Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?"
11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." And he said to him, "Here I am."
14 So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word." So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, "What are you seeking?"
16 "I am seeking my brothers," he said. "Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock."
17 And the man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.
19 They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer.
20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams."
21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life."
22 And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him"---that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colours that he wore.
24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers listened to him.
28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes
30 and returned to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?"
31 Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.
32 And they sent the robe of many colours and brought it to their father and said, "This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not."
33 And he identified it and said, "It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces."
34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.
Things to think about…
1. God still blessed Esau with everything he could possibly want in an earthly sense, Gen 35. In this regard Esau got all that he desired. The birthright to the land and the promises was sold by him, but he had no desire for it. He did not care whom he married (he married two Canaanite women and a wife from Ishmael’s daughters) and he did not care where he lived. His identity was in this world and not in the God of Isaac or the promises given to Abraham. His kingdom and his people would be a source of grief for the descendants of Jacob. We must continue to assess where we are placing our energies and our resources. Remember Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”, Mt 12:30.
2. We are introduced to Joseph who will be the next major character through to the end of Genesis. Jacob loves him more than any of the other brothers – including Benjamin. Remember Esau was loved by Isaac more than Jacob. Jacob is perpetuating the same sin. Strife in families through favouritism is a blight. It didn’t help that Joseph had these dreams that everyone in the family would bow down to him. Like Mary regarding her son Jesus, Jacob kept these things in his heart, Gen 35:11. Let’s check our hearts and make sure we love all our children and siblings as Christ would love them.
3. What a grief is the story of deceit by Joseph’s brothers. Poor Jacob is still reaping the example of deceit he had sowed all those years ago. Only Reuben is grieved. Why might this be the case? Could it be that as the eldest son he felt personally responsible and that he had already been a grief to his father by sleeping with Bilhah his concubine? As the eldest son he had already brought shame to his father and now he knows this news would be more than Jacob could bear.
4. Poor Jacob. It’s interesting that he deceived his father by having goats killed and deceived him through the use of his son’s (Esau’s) clothing and now the same is happening to him by his sons (Joseph’s blood stained coat of many colours stained with goat’s blood). We reap what we sow.
5. This deception would go on for at least 13 years. Jacob thought his son had died and the brothers would not tell the truth even when the subject came up at home. What family sins or secrets are you keeping that need to be told to release your family from reaping from the sin of deceit and perpetuating generational sin and guilt?
Vision Point
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Questions for Cell groups
Sunday’s sermon, “God blessed anyway” came from Gen 27 by Ps Jay.
1. Discuss the character differences between Jacob and Esau as they are displayed in Gen 27. Do you see any moral differences between them, that the Lord would bless Jacob over Esau?
2. Clearly there was little to no trust between Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. There was also little display of faith and trust in the Lord either. However the Scriptures exalt the character of Isaac and Jacob, Hebrews 11:20, 21; but they are not kind to Esau, Heb 12:16, 17. Discuss.
3. Jay spoke about the outworking of the blessing’s that were given by Isaac to his two sons in Gen 27. How have they been fulfilled?
4. The greatest blessing through the line of Jacob is the birth of the Messiah – Jesus. Consider how Jesus fits into the blessing Isaac gave to Jacob in Gen 27:28, 29.
5. Pray for your cell group and prayer/praise points. Pray for our “Blessing Beirut” appeal as we endeavour to help these ‘sons of Abraham’.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Lebanon and the people of Beirut with this accidental blast from the storage of ammonium nitrate. 157 confirmed dead. 5000 wounded, 300, 000 left homeless. $10 - $15 billion to rebuild.
2. Pray for those who heard the gospel on Sunday. Pray for Christ to grant them salvation.
3. Pray for Victoria that this virus departs and they would return to the freedoms we have here in Qld.
4. Pray for our church services would reach out into our community and beyond every Sunday.
5. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
6. Sunday’s messages and for Kids church. The message this week – “You shall be called Israel” Gen 35 – Ps Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. New visitors. Please pray that they receive Christ as their Saviour. Pray they keep coming back to CBC.
2. Wonderful spirit of joy in our church. Thankyou Jesus.
3. Finances being maintained and donations to Café roof. Thankyou!
1. We have established a “Blessing Beirut” fund. Pray we can find a gospel centered ministry to bless the people of Beirut as they rebuild.
2. One service at 9:30am Every Sunday morning. This service will also be live streamed. No kisses, hand-shakes or hugs are allowed. Hand sanitizer is to be used, tables will be wiped and chairs arranged for appropriate distancing. Families can of course sit together. CBC is allowed up to 50 people inside, then we will have an overflow in the house and Kids church will be in the crèche in the cafe.
3. Cell groups – Ask for details as to how and what is required.
4. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
5. Kids Church will be run in the house when the message starts.
Q. 15. What do we pray for in the fifth petition? A. That God would pardon our sins for Christ's sake, and enable us to forgive those who have wronged us.
