The Biblical Patriarch's... a Scriptural Perspective

Well, thank you again, Mike. Happy Sabbath once again to everyone. Good to see your smiling faces out there today.

Well, this afternoon for this message, I would like to talk about the biblical patriarchs.

Technically, the patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the 12 sons of Jacob. That's technically considered the patriarchs. There are a number of myths that surround the patriarchs, and today I'd like to bring out some of these myths and perhaps give us a realistic and a biblical perspective of the lives of these patriarchs. This sermon is actually a follow-up to some questions I received from a sermon I gave on the sanctity of marriage. I had questions like—and these are all very good questions—why didn't God stop Abraham from having a relationship with Sarah's handmaiden? Here's another one. How could Jacob be having physical relationships with four different women? Again, excellent questions. Over the years, I've known many very sincere individuals kind of idealize that patriarchs put them on a spiritual pedestal, so to speak, as if they were super spiritual. And I've known many people who have done that over the years. But the Bible, however, openly discusses the mistakes that the patriarchs made, because you know what? Like us, they were human. They made mistakes. But in spite of their mistakes, God still loved them, and God worked with them to complete his plan in spite of some of the things that they did. I think we need to have a better understanding of the biblical patriarchs. I'll give you an example. I oftentimes hear the phrase, Abraham the father of the faithful. I don't have a problem with the phrase, but people utter it as if it's a scripture. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Abraham was the father of the faithful, yet it is used so commonly as if it's assumed that it's something that comes out of the word of God. Here's what Holman's Bible dictionary says about the patriarchs. Quote, Israel's founding fathers, Abraham Isaac and Jacob, and the twelve sons of Jacob. Their word, patriarch, comes from a combination of two Latin words, patter, meaning father, and the Greek verb, arko, to rule. A patriarch is thus a ruling ancestor who may have been a founding father of a family, a clan, or a nation. So let's go to the New Testament here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 35. We're going to begin there today, and let's see what the New Testament says about the patriarchs. I think that's a great place to start, so we will begin there. Again, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 35.

The author of Hebrews, who I personally believe is Paul, says this, Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has a great reward. It's obviously beginning to introduce the subject of faith. Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't negate your confidence in God's promises and what God has planned for you. Verse 36. For you have need of endurance. That's endurance to the end. Not just for a little while. I've known a lot of people in the church over many years who came to the church like a bottle rocket.

They came to the church all on fire, all exam—blah! Glittery! And it died out, and they're gone. I've seen that over and over and over again in my years. That's not what the Bible is talking about. It says you have need of endurance. That's faithfulness to the end of your life or until Jesus Christ comes back. So that after you've done the will of God, you may receive the promise, for yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry.

Don't give up. Christ is coming back to earth in a little while and in a biblical sense since God lives forever. A little while can be 50 hundred years. We don't know, but from God's perspective, that's just a little while. Verse 38, Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Quoting from Habakkuk chapter 2. So God doesn't want us to draw back.

He doesn't want us to quit. He doesn't want us to stop having faith in his promises and what he's doing in our lives. Verse 39, But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Again, we believe to the end of our days that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that he died for our sins, that he shed his blood so that we could be reconciled to the Father, that he made it possible that we receive God's Holy Spirit as a gift. That transformative spirit to work with us for the rest of our lives. Chapter 11 and verse 1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

So the author of the book of Hebrews here continues to encourage the readers to go forward in faith and confidence of our belief in God and not to go backward and not to withdraw ourselves from being faithful to God's Word in his promises. So what is faith? Well, the definition here is if we can detect something with our vision or with our hearing or if we can touch it or taste it or smell it, you know what?

Then we have proof. That's not faith. It doesn't require faith if you can prove something. If I can literally see it, I don't need faith. If I can see it, it's there. That's proof. Faith is hard because you cannot detect something with any of your senses. The belief that there is a God, the belief that God is establishing a kingdom on earth, these are things that require faith. This is what the author of the book of Hebrews is telling us.

Then Paul goes on to discuss some of the faithful acts of the patriarchs. This is a good introduction to the patriarchs. Hebrews chapter 11, we're going to pick it up here in verse 8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out of the place by which he would receive an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, in other words with his son and his grandson. The heirs of him are the same promise, for he waited for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. You see, the life he lived really didn't have any foundations. He lived in a tent all of his life. He was kind of like a nomad much of his life. He looked forward in faith to something that was permanent, stable, the kingdom that God would establish on this earth. Verse 11, by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him, that's God, faithful, who had promised.

Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, meaning he was an old geezer at the time, he was lucky to be breathing, let alone producing children, from him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky and the multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them. And we need to see the kingdom of God afar off. That's why God has an annual celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. That's called vision. To maintain our faith, you have to have vision in what you believe, and the feast reminds us annually of that vision that we are longing for and we're looking forward to a kingdom on this earth, the kingdom of peace and prosperity, when all of these human issues and problems we have are wiped away, because it's a spirit-led kingdom.

But having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, they longed for the kingdom, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. Now, of all the places on earth, I'm very proud to say I'm an American, but this in my physical life is a citizenship I have, but I don't desire to live in the United States of America for eternity. It's not my ultimate homeland.

It's a looking at it's from a worldly perspective. It's the greatest nation on earth, I believe, and I'm happy and delighted to have been born here, but it's not what I look forward to for eternity. It's not the kingdom that I ultimately long for. I seek a spiritual homeland, a new kingdom in this world that is grounded on different governmental principles, on different laws, on different values.

That's what I long for, and I hope you do too. That's what they longed for is what the author is saying. Verse 15, and truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had the opportunity to return. In other words, they knew where they came from. They could have turned around and went home, but they never did.

They wanted to go to Canaan. Verse 16, but now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country, a country that is being prepared for by Jesus Christ, and he's going to return to this earth with his rewards and with those spiritual concepts and ideas in a kingdom on this earth that will be revolutionary from a heavenly perspective. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Zion, a new spiritual Zion, is right now being prepared for them as well as it's being prepared for us today. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he, that is Abraham, who had received the promise, offered up his only begotten son.

Only begotten son?

What happened to Ishmael? Wasn't Ishmael his son, his biological son? We'll answer that question in a few minutes.

Of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. So when he went to slay his son, he had decided in his mind, I'm going to plunge this knife into my child and kill my child, because that's what God asked me to do. He was as good as dead in Abraham's mind, and God stopped him at the last minute. Verse 20, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob in Esau concerning things to come by faith. Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave them instructions concerning his bones. We'll stop right there from Hebrews chapter 11. I want you to notice that the patriarchs are rightly praised for their actions of faith, and we honor the patriarchs. They are our examples in certain actions that they had that demonstrated great faith. But the Scripture doesn't say that everything they did in their lifetime is pleased God. The Scripture doesn't say that they were always faithful, that they lived a lifetime of perfect faithfulness. It doesn't say that. It simply recognizes specific actions that they performed, things that they did that showed their faith in God and in his promises. So what we're going to see today is that the patriarchs, as we honor them, as we respect them, as we look at acts that they did as wonderful examples of the faith that we should have, they weren't perfect. They shouldn't be idolized. They shouldn't be put on a pedestal. They were flawed human beings who needed God's grace and forgiveness just like we are flawed human beings who need God's grace and his forgiveness. As the Apostle Paul stated in Romans chapter 3 verse 23, he said, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All. That includes the biblical patriarchs. Just like us, they struggled with their own human weaknesses, and we'll see some of that today. Just like us, they struggled against the culture and the temptations that they faced in their day. And they sometimes fell short. And just like us, when they fell short, God continued to work with them because he loved them in spite of their imperfections and their mistakes. So let's take a quick survey of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob today as we look at the biblical patriarchs. We will begin with Abraham. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 11 and verse 26, and we'll see where Abraham is introduced into the biblical narrative. Genesis chapter 11 and verse 26. Before Abraham's name was changed, he was known as Abram.

Chapter 11 and verse 26. Now Terah lived seventy years and begot Abram, Nahor and Haran. This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, Er of the Chaldean. That's in ancient Mesopotamia. Verse 29. Then Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai. Later changed to Sarah. And the name of Nahor's wife was Milka, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milka, and the father of Ishka. I won't go into detail there, but Nahor and Milka were very closely related. Verse 30. But Sarah was barren. She had no child. And Terah took his son Abraham or Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abraham's wife. And they went out with them from Er of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran. Now, I know that can be confusing. This is a city called Haran. This isn't the son of Terah called Haran. They came to Haran and they dwelt there. So the days of Terah were 205 years and Terah died in Haran. So we learn from these verses that Terah has three sons, one of which is Abram, and they leave Mesopotamia, that is an Ur, and they head to the land of Canaan. And on the way to the land of Canaan, they stop in a city of Haran, and it's there that Terah dies. The, you could say, the patriarch of the clan, father of the clan. Haran, the city, is an upper Mesopotamia. It's still about 300 miles north of Canaan. So they're on their way to Canaan, but they're nowhere near the land of Canaan. It appears that most of the family, from this point on, is content to stop and settle there. Most of the family, they kind of like it there. It becomes the family's hometown. So much so that it remained home for relatives like Laban, who were introduced to in Genesis chapter 27. Jacob goes all the way back there to marry and to live for a while. So the family considers that, Haran, their hometown, even though we're going to see that God has other plans for Abraham and his descendants. Genesis chapter 12 verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, Get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now that happens in two different ways. First, the descendants of Abraham are individuals who brought forms of government to the world that were enlightened. They created technologies, and they created things that people were able to amass great amounts of wealth and comfort and better health care and better technologies and better living conditions because of the influence of his descendants. But more importantly than that, as Paul mentioned, this is also referring to the birth of Jesus Christ, who would be the savior of all mankind. So all the families of the earth would be blessed because a descendant of Abraham would be Jesus Christ himself. Verse 4, so Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Very simple statement, but there's a lot behind that statement. And Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abraham took Sariah's wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

Take a look again at verse 1 here. Here's another translation. Most translations, matter of fact, you say it this way, leave your country and your relatives, where the new King James Version says your family. Yet, in spite of that instruction, simple instruction, Abraham's nephew, Lot, was allowed to go with him. Abraham may have felt some responsibility for Lot's well-being due to Lot being fatherless, Abraham being his uncle, being a close living blood relative. Lot may have also actively wanted to continue to Canaan because that was the original goal of the entire clan from the very beginning. So that may have been the case as well. So what are the consequences? Simple command by God, simple instruction, leave your family, leave your relatives, go to the land of Canaan, and he takes Lot with him. He allows Lot to go with him. So what are the consequences of what we might say is a simple compromise? Well, in Genesis chapter 13 and verse 7, there was strife over the livestock of the land. They couldn't support the livestock of both Lot and Abram. So there's contention there. Shepherds are arguing, a little tension between Lot and his uncle, and they have to part ways in both separate from each other. In Genesis chapter 14 and verse 12, four kings kidnapped Lot and his family, and they're obviously going to either be sold into slavery. Abram risks his life, everything that he has, to go and capture back his kidnapped nephew, his possessions, and his family. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 23, Abram learns from God that Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed, and he intercedes with God, knowing that Lot dwells in Sodom. His nephew and his family live there. So I believe it's very fair to say that Lot's presence caused a lot of stress and worry on Abram's part, simply because God gave a very simple destruction command instruction. That's the word I'm looking for. Very simple instruction, and Abraham compromised on it. He didn't strictly obey God's command to get away from his entire family. It wasn't done out of his desire to be disobedient, but it was a small compromise, and he may not have even thought it was that important since he had affection towards Lot, and maybe felt responsible for him. How many times have we made small compromises with God? How many times have we cut corners with something that we know God desires or wants, and yet we still did it anyway? Are there consequences to cutting corners with God? Do not strictly listening to what God tells us? Sure there are. Let's now go to Genesis 16, verse 1.

God made very plain to Abram that from him God was going to provide a son to fulfill the promise that we just read about. A son who would be a son of promise. From his lineage come millions and millions and millions and millions as the stars in the sky and would have great influence over the world, whose very descendants would result in a Savior, Jesus Christ. God promised him that he would have that son. Let's see what happens here in Genesis 16, verse 1. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. So do you think it was God's desire that this descendant be half Egyptian?

Continue in verse 2. So Sarai said to Abram, see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid, and I'm sure he heard the word please, please go into my maid, perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abram heeded to the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went into Hagar and she conceived. And when she, that is Sarah, saw that she Hagar had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. Ah, immediately there's jealousy. Anyone could have predicted that. You have one woman who's now going to give birth and have a child, and the other woman who's childless. That's not rocket science to figure out there's going to be jealousy over this situation. Then Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be upon you. Let me give you a new Thomas translation for you. This is all your fault.

And I know, men, that you never ever heard your wives say that to you for something they did or encouraged you to do. May my wrong be upon you. I gave my maid into your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judged between you and me. I'm going to read this from the new international version for just verse five. Then Sarai said to Abraham, You were responsible for the wrong. I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now she knows she is pregnant. She despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me. So why doesn't God stop Abram from doing this?

Why doesn't God chastise Abram for doing this? It's because God lets individuals make their own choices. No matter what we do, His will, His plan, will be accomplished and achieved.

God does not feel an obligation to stop people from making bad choices.

There are hundreds of examples of sin in the Old Testament. Sometimes, rarely, God has a commentary and says, This was a sin. This was bad. This person will be punished. The overwhelming majority of times in evil and sin committed in the Bible, God is silent. He doesn't feel obligated to comment on every poor choice, wrong decision, or sin committed in people's lives. God does not feel an obligation to repeat His will over and over again.

And at the risk of being redundant, once again, I'll remind all of us there is a vast gulf between what God's will is and what God allows to go on in this world. From the very beginning of humanity, God stated His will clearly when He united one man, one woman in a marital bond—that's in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 21—and Jesus Himself confirmed the fact that from the beginning, God's original intention was one man and one woman known, biblically as Adam and Eve.

You know, Adam had another ribcage on the other side. God could have created Adam, Eve, and Dawn.

But He didn't do that, did He? Better yet, Adam, if like men today, may have had 24 ribs. God could have created Adam, Eve, and 23 other beautiful young women for Him to be intimate with if God intended polygamy. But God didn't do that. He created a relationship between one man and one woman, and Abraham knew and understood that.

Again, it's not God's obligation to repeat His will to people. It is not God's obligation to correct others when they make mistakes. He can whenever He desires, and sometimes, indeed, He does.

But He is never obligated to do so. Rather, I'll tell you what God does allow. What His will is, when we do something against His will, He allows us to feel the consequences. That's His way of correcting us. He allows us to feel the consequences. And here are some of the consequences. Here in Genesis 16, verse 3, there's family confusion and upset. Hagar conceives. Sarah despises. Abram, and she obviously also despises Hagar. She blames him. That's not a happy moment in Abraham's family. Genesis chapter 21, there's more family contention. Now both boys are alive. Ishmael and Isaac. Hagar's son Ishmael mocks Isaac. Sarah is furious. She demands, I want them out of my sight. I want them exiled from this family.

Verse 11, Abraham is very distressed about that. He considers Ishmael his son. For good or bad, Ishmael's his son. Who wants what normal, healthy person would want to abandon part of their family? But this is what his wife is pressuring him to do. He even talks to God about it. God says, it'll be okay. I'll take care of him. Listen to your wife. The only time in the Bible it says, listen to your wife, by the way. You're sure wondering. That may have to be edited out. I don't know. Joe, can we edit that out of the video? Genesis chapter 22, God refers to Isaac as Abraham's only son. You know, same phrase used in Hebrews. Why does God call Isaac Abraham's only son? Because God never intended him to have a son through Hagar. That was a human being's way to fulfill God's promises. That wasn't God's way to fulfill his promises. That's our way to try to fulfill God's promises. And I think that's a very important thing we need to understand and consider. It was never God's will that Abraham have a son through Hagar. God simply allowed it, and then he went on with his plan. His plan all along was that a biological child from Sarah and Abraham would be the child of promise, period, in spite of what Abraham did or thought. And God does the same thing with us.

Sometimes we're not listening closely to what God tells us to do, but his plan will prevail.

As was brought out in the previous sermon on marriage, Abraham also lied to others about Sarah being his sister. And that's in Genesis chapter 12 and 20. And that was an obvious attempt to deceive others. I'd like to remind all of us that deceiving others is not Christian behavior, in case you were wondering. I've had people send me, oh, well, Mr. Thomas, but she was his sister, half-sister. Well, that may be true, but that doesn't justify deceit. The intent to deceive somebody. Revelation refers to Satan as the deceiver of the whole world. Deceit is not a Christian quality. What we are reminded here is that Abraham, as well as dramatic actions of faith, acts of faith that we should emulate and admire, was human. He was not perfect. None of the patriarchs were perfect. They should never be idolized, never be put on some spiritual shelf, given more credit than being human, because that simply is not biblical. That's not what the Bible teaches us, and that's not healthy to our own church culture. They were flawed human beings who need God's grace and forgiveness, just like you and I are flawed beings who need God's grace and forgiveness. Again, simply because God allows things to happen without His comment does not mean He's okay with it. It does not mean that it's His will.

Here's the point. Abraham slowly grew in faith over decades and decades as his relationship with God increased, just like you and I. Trying to produce a son with Hagar was his way to fulfill God's promise, not God's way, not God's will, not what God wanted, but God allowed it to happen. Telling your wife to lie to others about your marriage relationship is not an act of faith. If you had faith at that point in your life, you would not tell your wife to lie and deceive others, because you would believe that God could protect you from these kings, from Pharaoh, from Bimalik. So again, the point is that Abraham slowly grew in faith over the decades, but very early on it is a calling. He did a dramatic thing. He obeyed God's command to leave Mesopotamia and to go to the land of Canaan without any other instruction or clarification or details. He just did it. What an incredible act for us to emulate. By the way, a metaphor of God calling us out of this world. And I know people who lost jobs because they would no longer work on Saturdays. I know people who lost mates because their mates were furious that, what do you mean I can't do this? What do you mean I shouldn't do that? So I personally knew people who went through tremendous sacrifices had great acts of personal faith when they too were called to go to the promised land, to go to a different place than they were at. So that was Abraham. Let's talk about Isaac very shortly because I don't know what's wrong with Isaac. When it comes to marriage, Isaac only had one wife. That was his beloved Rebecca. Unlike his father Abraham, and unlike his sons Esau and Jacob, who were all polygamists, Isaac just simply had one wife. Bible does not mention any concubines at all in his life. Just a few comments. There's not a whole lot to say about Isaac. He has a lot of admirable traits, obviously. But continuing the family dysfunction of deceit, which ran through generations of this family, Isaac lied to the Philistine king Abimelech about Rebecca being his sister. Again, that's a family dysfunction that was passed on for many generations. It even gets to the point where they named one of their children Jacob Deceiver. It becomes so common in the family. Let's name our kids this. Let's just at least acknowledge what we are, I guess, was the reasoning behind that.

His heart was broken. He and his wife's heart were broken. In Genesis chapter 26 and verse 34, Esau took two Hittite wives, causing grief to his parents. So not only does he take two wives, violating the example that they set, they don't even take wives from the family. They take Gentile Hittite wives. Breaks, obviously, breaks their heart. In time, their two sons Jacob and Esau become competitors. Rebecca, she loves Jacob. Isaac favors Esau. Esau made some pretty good food.

I think he was a manly man, and Isaac liked that. So let's talk a little bit about Jacob. His name means heel. He was born grasping. He was a twin, not an identical twin. You couldn't find two physical peoples who were more different than two of them, but he was a twin, and he came out holding on to his brother's heel. His name also means he who cheats or supplants. So very interesting name he was given, and that was given, obviously, at the time of his birth. Genesis chapter 25 verse 27. If you'll turn there with me, let's read about what happens as these boys begin to grow up. Genesis 25-27. It says, so the boys grew, and Esau was a skillful hunter, a man in the field, but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. So again, you can't find two people that are probably more different from one another, and Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, and Rebecca loved Joseph. Now Jacob cooked a stew. So one day happens, and this is a story, one day Jacob's obviously very good in the kitchen. He's a homebody, and he cooks this delicious stew, and Esau came from the field, and he was weary. Who knows? Maybe he's having a low blood sugar attack, but he just feels like he's going to die. He's just so biologically physically weak, he feels like he's going to collapse. And Esau said to him, please feed me some of that red stew, for I am weary. Or for his name was called Edom, Red. But Jacob said to him, hey brother, not a problem. Let me give you a bold of this, because I really want to serve you, and I love you as my brother. Now doesn't say that, does it? Oh, let's have a little bribery here. Let's... Jacob said, sell me your birthright as of this day. And Esau said, look, I'm about to die. But what is this birthright to me? Then Jacob said, swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils, and he ate and drank a rose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. And yes, in essence, Esau did despise his birthright, and that's a very negative thing. His attitude disqualified him for that privilege. But God could have removed it from him many different ways than what Jacob is attempting to do here. God could have shortened his life that Esau just died. And then by default, Jacob would have been given the birthright. God could have done it any number of ways. Deception wasn't required here. And when we read something like this, we should not ever say to, oh, well, that's God's will. That's what God had planned.

Because that's not the case. Deception was not required. Later, Rebecca encouraged Jacob to deceive his father in the formal act of receiving the birthright blessing. Let's drop it down to chapter 27, verse 15, and read about this here. Chapter 27, verse 15. And Rebecca took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau. They smelled a certain way. They smelled like the outdoors. They smelled like the field, which were with her in the house. And she put them on Jacob, her younger son. So she can see she's conspiring with Jacob to receive the birthright blessing. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth of his neck. See, Jacob was smooth. Esau was a hairy dude. Really hairy, but I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen anyone that's as hairy as a goat. But nonetheless, that's what she does. Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. And he went to his father and said, my father. And he said, here I am. Who are you, my son? He got visual problems. He doesn't see any more. He's blind. And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I'm sorry. I can't sugarcoat that. That's a lie. That's an attempt to be deceitful.

I have done just as you told me. Please arise, sit, and eat my game, that your soul may bless me. But Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? Doesn't it take time to actually go out and hunt? This is fast. Dad is beginning to connect the dots a little bit. And he said, because the Lord your God brought it to me. First of all, that's too lie. That's an outright lie. The Lord God didn't bring mommy, cooked it up in the kitchen. And number two, you're using God's name in vain. You just said God did something that he didn't. Verse 21, then Isaac said to Jacob, please come near that I may feel you, my son, whether you were really my son Esau or not. So Jacob went near to Isaac, his father, and he felt him and said the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. Then he said, are you really my son Esau? He still has doubts.

Something doesn't make sense here. It doesn't pass the smell test, as we say today. He said, I am, again, an outright lie. Again, and I want to emphasize, because the scriptures don't condemn this, because there's no commentary on this, this very deep, repeated level of deceit does not mean it's God's will or that this event had God's blessing. God could have given Jacob the birthright any number of ways without resorting to lying and deceit in order to achieve his ends. He, Jacob, is encouraged by his mother. He lied and deceived his father to receive the blessing. Again, I want to emphasize to us that lying and deceit are not godly and righteous qualities. Any number of ways God could have made sure that Jacob was to receive the birthright. Well, obviously, this doesn't go down very well with Esau. Well, Jacob flees back to Haran. Remember that city that we talked about early on?

He heads back to Haran, and there. Remember I said things have consequences? God doesn't make commentary. God doesn't condemn on the spot, but he lets us feel the consequences. So he goes back and he meets Uncle Laban. Now, if Jacob thinks he's a deceiver, he's a babe in the woods. Uncle Laban knows every trick, every way to screw you over that's ever been known to man. And Jacob begins a multi-decade lesson of learning how everyone else felt when he deceived them.

He learns how it feels to deceive others. And in time, Jacob also has multiple female relationships. He works for his Uncle Laban to marry Rachel, works seven years hard, hard work, which is another way that God just smiled. Here was a homebody, and he ends up being a shepherd and working like a dog from sun up to sun down. God smiles.

If you don't listen, God says you'll have to feel.

So he works for his Uncle Laban to marry Rachel, and a wonderful little marriage ceremony. He wakes up the next morning, it's Leah! It's not even Rachel. And he then negotiates with Uncle Laban, and he receives Rachel's second wife, but he has to work for her for another seven years.

So let's take a look at chapter 30, verse 1. Now, when Rachel saw that she had born Jacob, no children, Rachel envied her sister and said to Jacob, give me children or else I die! Obviously, that was a cultural thing. Women felt an incredible need to bear children and bear lots of them. And in that culture, there was phenomenal shame on women who could not bear children. But that was culturally induced, just like a lot of things that we do today are not good. They're also culturally induced. And Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, am I in place of God who was withheld from you the fruit of the womb? So she said, here is my maid, Bill Ha.

Go into her. Now, had he ever been aware of a relative who did something like this in the past? Well, sure he was. Sure he was aware of that. Her name was Hagar.

And she will bear a child on my knees that I may also have children with her. Then she gave him Bill Ha, her maid as wife, and Jacob went into her. And Bill Ha conceived and bore Jacob, a son. And Rachel said, God has judged my case. Again, I think you're using God's name in vain here, but God has judged my case. He has also heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore, she called his name Dan. And Rachel's maid, Bill Ha, conceived again. One thing about Jacob is he never did anything half-hearted. And Bill Ha conceived again and bore Jacob, a second son. And Rachel said, With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali. Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing the vending machine it quit working. And she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her to Jacob as wife. And Leah's maid, Zilpah, bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, A troop comes. This is just the beginning of all kinds of kids. A troop comes, and she called his name Gad. So in essence, he's coming out of the field. Hey, Jacob, here's your task list this week. Monday night you go to Leah. Tuesday night you go to Bill Ha. Wednesday night is Rachel. And Thursday night is Zilpah. And he would say, Oh, do I have to? Oh, if you say so.

So here he is having a relationship with four women. Wow. So what are the results and consequences of this many mommies and kids in one family? And unfortunately, that's where I have to wind it up today.

But this is, I will say, one incredibly dysfunctional family.

I don't have time today to look at the lives of the 12 sons, but I would have to break it down into two sermons to explain the jealousy, hatred, murder, rape, incest, manipulation, lying, deception, and other sins that these 12 boys commit. It's really a sad story, all caused by the consequence of violating God's original instruction that there was to be an intimate relationship between one man and one woman in the sanctity of marriage. And if you won't listen, then you're going to have to feel. That's how God puts it. So I'd like to give a recap of some of the things that we can learn by just looking at this brief outline today of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. First of all, the patriarchs are mentioned in the book of Hebrews, and they are commended for specific examples of faith, and indeed we honor them for those specific acts. We look at those actions as inspiring examples, as outlined in the book of Hebrews, the faith chapter. The Bible openly discusses the sins and the weaknesses of the patriarch. Just how I know the Bible is true, personally. I'll just share something with you. Most holy books idealize all of the main characters in their writings. Not the Bible. It shows people warts and all. I think I've told you the famous painting of Oliver Cromwell, who was the Lord Protector of England during a very brief time in history when it was actually a republic. The painter was painting him. He had a big wart on his face, and the painter didn't put the wart on there. Cromwell saw it and he exploded. He said, no, paint me warts and all. But the point is, is that the Bible shows all of its characters warts and all. Like us, they struggled with their own human weaknesses.

Brethren, like us, when they did fall short, God continued to work with them and to love them in spite of their mistakes and their imperfections. God allows individuals to make their own choices, and he does not feel an obligation to stop people from making bad choices. He does not feel an obligation to make commentary. He does not feel an obligation to immediately punish people for doing things wrong. That's not how God operates. The patriarchs grew in faith over decades as the relationship with God developed. God does not feel an obligation to repeat his will, for example, of marriage between Adam and Eve, over and over and over again in the Bible. He reveals his will by the things that he does, by the example that he sets, and by the laws that he instructs. For example, the Ten Commandments themselves appear only twice in the Hebrew Scriptures. Hundreds of times the word law is mentioned, commandments is mentioned, but the actual Ten Commandments are only there twice. Exodus 20, Deuteronomy chapter 5, God does not feel an obligation to repeat things over and over and over again.

Remember the difference between what God's will is and what he allows. Don't ever assume that because God chooses to be silent, or he doesn't comment on something, or he doesn't punish someone immediately, that that was okay with God, or assume that it's God's will.

God allows it. So let's wholeheartedly agree with Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 13. It says this, these all died in faith in spite of their flaws, in spite of their weaknesses, they believed in God, and they stuck close to the trunk of the tree. That is their faith in God and their faith in God's promises of a better world, a better kingdom that they longed for and could live in someday.

These all died in faith not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. So let's read about the patriarchs. Let's respect and honor some of the great acts of faith, and like them, let us too desire a better homeland. Have a wonderful Sabbath.