The Birth of Jacob (Gen. 25:19-28)

This sermon was preached on 17/7/2011

There are three reasons why I think a study of the life of Jacob is important. First, we are believers in the same God and follow the same spiritual life as Jacob did. We learn more about the spiritual life from the accounts of individuals in the Bible than we do from other biographies, even of devout believers. Second, his life covers a great deal of the Book of Genesis – studying Jacob also means studying aspects of the lives of his parents (Isaac and Rebekah) and his children (especially Joseph). Third, the Lord often refers to himself as the God of Jacob, which points to a relationship between them that has implications and lessons for other believers.

Before we look at what Genesis 25 says about the birth of Jacob, we should look at the genealogy in the chapter because he genealogies of the patriarchs provide interesting details. We can see from Genesis 25:7 that Abraham died when he was 175 years old. He was 100 when Isaac was born, which means that Isaac was 75 when his father died, and Ishmael would have been 89. Isaac was 60 when Esau and Jacob were born, which means that Abraham was 160. Therefore Abraham would have been involved in the lives of Esau and Jacob for about 15 years, and as we know the influence of a grandparent can be very strong.

Jacob had praying parents

We can see from 25:19-22 that both Isaac and Rebekah prayed about the birth of a child. Isaac prayed before Rebekah was pregnant and she prayed after she became pregnant.

Prayer had played a big part in their lives before they met. Abraham had prayed for his son and when he sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, the servant engaged in silent prayer before he spoke to Rebekah when he met her at the well. When Rebekah and the servant arrived back, Isaac was out meditating in the fields, and such meditation is a form of prayer. Rebekah’s first sight of a servant from that household and of the son of that household was that both of them were praying men.

It is also the case that Rebekah’s own family were accustomed to pray. When she left them in order to become the wife of Isaac, they sent her off with their blessing, and the contents of the blessing reveal that it was a prayer: ‘Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him.’

So it is not surprising that prayer became part of their lives, and here in Genesis 25 we see how they prayed about one situation, the absence of a child. I think both of them prayed because they were concerned about the covenant line – earlier Isaac prayed because there was no sign of a child and later Rebekah prayed because she sensed that more than one child was coming. Perhaps Rebekah has expected the prayers of her family to have been answered quickly. But the years passed and she was unable to send a message home saying that she had become a mother.

Not only was there a long delay in God fulfilling his promise to them, they also knew that he had fulfilled his promises to Ishmael. A long time before, even at the time when Ishmael was on God’s instructions put out of the house of Abraham, God had given a promise both to Abraham and to Hagar that their son would become a great nation. Son after son, twelve of them were born, to Ishmael. God kept his promise to him, but the news of the birth of each one would only remind Isaac and Rebekah that so far he had not fulfilled his promise to them. What did they do? Isaac kept on praying, we are told, and I am sure Rebekah did the same. Why did they keep on praying?

Isaac and Rebekah kept on praying because they believed that a son would come. After all, God had said that he had made a covenant with Abraham’s descendants. Their faith prevented them from making the same mistake as Abraham and Sarah had done when they used Hagar to produce a child. Instead they waited on God. Yet they did more than merely wait – they also prayed.

It is important to note the place that prayer has in God’s purposes. Isaac and Rebekah did not become fatalists and assume that God would fulfil his promises without prayer. His promises state his capabilities, but they are given so that he will be asked to fulfil them.

The promises concerning future descendants also enabled Isaac and Rebekah to be specific in their prayers. They could go to God and ask for something definite when they prayed. Although they had to wait a long time, the length of the delay had not invalidated the promise of God.

In this incident we have some lessons for parents. It is obviously important to pray for pregnancy and during pregnancy. It is also valid for each of them to pray separately about an aspect of the situation that burdened them personally.

There is also a lesson for all of us and that is we should turn the promises of God into prayer petitions. God will not refuse what he has promised. He may enlarge it, as Rebekah found out, but he will be faithful to his words of promise. His answers are not limited to what he has promised, but we have been given these promises in order to use them as arguments in prayer.

Yet we also have to note that sometimes God does not answer prayer until almost the last moment. Isaac was almost sixty and Rebekah may have been around forty. They must have looked at themselves and wondered if it was going to happen. Their response was to keep on praying. We must always remember that delays are not denials.

Divine purpose

The Lord responded to Rebekah’s request and gave information to her. We are not told how the information was conveyed, only that she received it. She was told that she had twins and each was to become a nation. Further the nations would yet be hostile to one another, with the younger having dominion over the older.

The answer to her prayer would have reminded her of several details about God’s intentions. First, he knows what is going to happen in the future. Second, he is prepared to arrange circumstances that will not be socially acceptable (it was not the custom for the second son to get the blessing that usually went to the firstborn). Third, his purposes are often fulfilled through conflict (there would be conflict between Jacob and Esau in the future, there was conflict between them at the birth, and there was conflict between them in the womb). Fourth, the spiritual line would be through Jacob, which means that he would be the ancestor of the promised Deliverer. So while the answer from God indicated future troubles, it also contained elements of his grace.

While we will not usually get such a specific answer to a particular request, it is reasonable to assume that answers to our prayers will have similar features. When we pray, we pray to the One who knows the future (of course, he knows it because he has planned it. He does not know it merely because he can see ahead). Two days ago, what you would pray about today was in the future. You did not know then that you would make that particular petition today, but God had planned that you would. So your prayer was part of his plan. We can extend that illustration to every prayer you have made as a Christian – at one time, they were all future to you, but they all were part of God’s plan. That means that no genuine prayer of God’s people is insignificant.

Second, the answer to our prayers may not be what we expect. Rebekah did not expect to be told that her oldest son would serve her youngest son. God often surprises us with his answers. He does not give any explanation as to why he does things in a particular way. God often turns upside down the way we may have worked out how things will go. We can imagine Rebekah saying to herself, ‘My oldest son will be the ancestor of the Saviour.’ Yet she discovered God’s grace would go in another direction. And that is, in a sense, the story of grace – it is always unpredictable.

Third, the answer to our prayers may bring conflict. There were many ahead for Isaac and Rebekah. Why did God bring this detail into their lives? I would suggest it was allowed so that they would keep praying. In a sense, the goal of their prayers was achieved when their son was born. God’s line of salvation would continue. They did not know it, but ahead of them were many trials, caused at one level by their sons. Whatever else they needed to do, they needed to pray. It is the same with us. When God answers our prayers he will do it in such a way that will keep us praying.

Fourth, the birth of Jacob was a reminder of God’s long-term plan of mercy. Isaac and Rebekah did not know that thousands of years were to pass before the Descendant would be born. In passing we can observe that his birth, which had been the subject of many prayers, turned upside down the expectations of society (as Mary noted in her words of praise) and produced outcomes which required that Mary (and Joseph) would continue to pray. Each answer to prayer is a pointer to the future salvation that God will yet provide for his people in the new heavens and new earth. Each one is part of the countdown that is leading to that marvellous prospect.

Safe birth

Eventually the day of birth arrived. As was sometimes done, they were given names according to their appearance. So the firstborn was called Esau because he was red. Jacob was given his name because he was holding on to the heel of his brother. The onlookers saw some significance in that action and so gave him that name. Jacob would be someone who would be a grasper or a person willing to take hold of what belonged to other people. Perhaps his parents were puzzled by this development. In any case, the child was born and we will see how his life unfolds in further studies.