King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Saturday, January 20, 2024
Chapters: Genesis Chapters 25-26
Message: Living Water
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
Today is the first Saturday since I got my job that I did not have to work and believe it or not it feels strange and I still woke up at my normal time. I do not need to tell you how things become routine and habit the longer you do them. It is said that it takes twenty-one days to form a habit, and I sure wish that I could get that through my head in regards to my time with God and His work, but I have failed so many times. There is actually a reason why God does not want us to stay in a routine, we would become stale or as Jesus puts it, salt that has lost its saltiness, [Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.]
What did Jesus mean by that? Well, think about the disciples that Jesus had, there were twelve and one of them, Judah Iscariot, was of the devil. So, while Judas played the part of a disciple for a little while he was never saved and therefore lost the right to salvation through his disbelief. You see, the reason why faithful, saved, and born again Christians are like salt is because they preach the life preserving salt of Gospel of Christ. Well, to the world it as salt to a wound, but to the believer, it is the preserver of their soul, [Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.]
Then as I was reading the chapters for today, this passage came to mind, [John 4:7,9-12 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?]
Living Water! What a thought and it is no wonder why she asked where she could get everlasting water from. Well, that living water was in reference to the Holy Spirit who is often referred to as spiritual water [1 John 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.] As we continue in the reading of Genesis, we will learn of how all this ties in together, first, beginning with how all this got started with the birth of Isaac and that great test of faith that Abraham showed God when he was willing to give Isaac back to God. Well, in a sense Abraham did give Isaac back to God as he would go on to be the heir of promise. Now, after Sarah died, believe it or not, Abraham had more children with a woman named, Keturah.
[Genesis 25:1-7 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. 7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.]
[and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived,] It just occurred to me that this was a one hundred year period from the time that God had told Abraham to leave his family with the promise of giving him a son. I do not know what is more amazing, the fact that Abraham lived seventy-five years after Isaac was born or that he had taken another wife at such an old age. Notice that these children are known as the children of Keturah and not Abraham’s. You may also recognize some familiar names that played some part in the Israelites lives later on. Abraham, sent them away from Isaac for two reasons, first; Isaac was the heir of promise, born of Sarah and therefore, he was given the birthright. And second; Abraham, did not want any influence from the others that could hinder the promise. While God does give us promises they come with one condition if we want to receive them, our faith in Him, [Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.]
In order to show that God does fulfill His promise, the twelve sons that God promised Hagar that Ishmael would have are recorded, [Genesis 25:12-16 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham: 13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: 16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.]
[Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son,] Ishmael, had twelve sons, whose families became distinct tribes just like the Israelites did. They peopled a very large country that sat between Egypt and Assyria, which is Arabia. Now, we can get a better picture of why things are the way they are in the Middle East. Notice that Ishmael was recognized as Abraham’s son even though he was not named as the heir. We may not all be heirs of promise, but all who are saved and born again through their faith in Christ are recognized as children of Abraham, [Galatians 3:7-8 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.]
Now, Isaac and Rebekah had been married for twenty years, but they had not had any children yet, in fact, Abraham died before he saw his first grandchildren from Isaac. Isaac, prays for God to open Rebekah’s womb, and He did, He actually gave them twins.
[Genesis 25:11,19-23 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi. 19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac: 20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.]
[And the children struggled together within her;] Rebekah, had a hard pregnancy, these twins were fighting in the womb and would go on fighting their entire lives. These two nations would become the nation of Edom (Esau) and Israel (Jacob). Now, we have seen it before and perhaps even in our own family, and that is sibling rivalry, and Esau and Jacob were no exception, from birth they would fight, and we will see why right here.
[Genesis 25:25-28 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. 27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.]
[And Isaac loved Esau…but Rebekah loved Jacob.] When one parent favors the other there will always be not only conflict between the children, but the parents as well. Birthright, is actually very important, since Esau was the first born, he would have rightfully received the family inheritance and blessing from the father. However, Rebekah, never forgot what God told her and made sure to remind Jacob of that fact. Jacob, was not going to let anything prevent that from happening so he came up with a scheme to get Esau to give up his birthright.
[Genesis 25:29-34 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.]
[and what profit shall this birthright do to me?] Birthright meant nothing to Esau, at least, while he had nothing at stake, but Jacob sure knew the importance of it, so much so that he connived Esau to sell it to him. Why was this so important? There were many rights handed down to the first born son besides a double portion of their earthly inheritance. These were rights such as honor, authority, leadership, and the title of being heir, which was more valuable to them than anything they would receive. However, in this case, the one with the birthright would actually be the one who God would use to continue to fulfill the covenant that He made with Abraham, [Hebrews 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.]
[thus Esau despised his birthright] And this is exactly why it is recorded in God’s Word that He hated Esau, [For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. – Romans 9:9-13]
Rebekah, certainly never forgot what God had said to her about her younger son ruling the eldest, and made sure that it was going to happen, no doubt telling Jacob. Think about it, for a bowl of soup, Esau, gave up his birthright. This means that he gave up all his rights to anything that he would have inherited from his father when he died. It is no wonder that God would come to despise him as this one act of carelessness not only proved that he had no intention of following God, it would also bring a division between the two nations. Now, to prove them all, God, sent a famine in which they found themselves walking in Abraham’s footsteps.
[Genesis 26:1-5 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.]
[Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee,] Isaac, was aware of of Gerar because that is where he was born and grew up. In fact, this Abimelech was the son of the Abimelech that Abraham had made a covenant with after he lived there during a famine. Right here, God, confirms that He will fulfill the covenant that He made with his father. God, is the same way with us concerning our faith in Christ, we are only saved by grace, [Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.]
[Because that Abraham obeyed my voice,] Do you see why God followed through with the covenant? It had nothing to do with Isaac, while he had his own cross to bear, it was Abraham’s faith and faithfulness to Him. The obedience of Abraham was evidence of that faith, he was as a sinner just as you and I, but he was justified before God in that his true faith became his righteousness, [Romans 4:3-5 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.]
We must realize that God does not keep His promises to us based on our works, He does them because He never goes back on His promises, but our works are an added bonus when we are obedient to Him. No matter how good we try to be, we are mess, we do not always have a perfect heart for God. God knows this and it appears that Isaac literally did walk in his father’s footsteps as he made the same mistake of telling of telling the men that Rebekah was his sister only to discover the truth when they found them kissing.
[Genesis 26:7-10 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. 8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. 10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.]
[for he feared to say, She is my wife;] I hope that when I am older that I age that well, but my husband fears nothing, he would fight for me in a heartbeat. God, is actually that way with us, we do not need to live in fear because we are covered under more than the shadow of His wings, we are covered under Christ’s blood, [1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,]
Well, after all that came to pass, Isaac and Abimelech came up with an agreement and Isaac and his family lived there for a while and was blessed tremendously. When we follow God’s will we are blessed with so much more than just eternal life and the world knows it. Isaac did obey God, and He blessed him, and blessed him abundantly for it. Here they are in Philistine territory, the people who would come to despise Israel and fight them until this day, and God indeed blessed Isaac.
[Genesis 26:12-17,20 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. 13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. 15 For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. 17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.]
[Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.] This would begin the rivalry between Israel and Palestine. All this success did not go over so well for the Philistines, they actually became threatened and envious of Isaac and asked him to leave, but not without some strife, every time Isaac had his men dug a well for water, they would fight over it, except for one.
[Genesis 26:22-25 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. 23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba. 24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. 25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.]
[For now the LORD hath made room for us,] Did you ever wonder why they dwelt in tents and moved around so much back then? God, always left them ready to pick up and leave when things got stale. In fact, He still does this today, although most of us do dwell in houses or apartments. I have never been in so many churches since deciding to move to Orlando, we go to one, serve there for a while, things get strange so we are called to go somewhere else, often changing locations as well. We are to always be ready and prepared for Christ’s return and He has plenty of room for more,
[2 Timothy 4:2-5 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.]
[builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD,] Remember, it does not matter who we are, or what timeline we came, if we want God’s blessings to remain, we must call upon Christ’s name. No matter how good we try to be, we are mess, we do not always have a perfect heart for God. God knows this and that is why He promises that if we believe in and accept His Son, we will be His children forever and will never leave nor forsake us, [Hebrews 13:5-6 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.]
[and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.] This is what reminds me of the woman at the well, Jesus, paid no mind to her being a Samaritan, which were known as a half-breed Jews who came back from Babylon after their captivity and were not allowed to mingle with the Jews. All He saw was a thirsty soul that needed to be given life, [John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.]
The world often envies the blessings that God gives while we are present in the world, and for that reason they are always in opposition to us no matter where we go. There will come a time when God will take us to a place where we can be at peace with no opposition. When Abimelech saw how Isaac prospered and became respected, and knowing it was God that was blessing them, he thought it best to stop fighting him and come up with some kind of treaty.
[Genesis 26:27-31 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? 28 And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; 29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD. 30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. 31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.]
[thou art now the blessed of the LORD.] You are not only blessed with everlasting life when you call upon the name of the LORD, you are the blessed with peace that passes all understanding, [Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Genesis 26:24-25 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. 25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.]
Today’s Prayer: God, When we put our faith and trust in Your Son we never fully comprehend just how merciful You are until we are faced with a situation that cries for mercy. Thank You, for Your mercies and grace, it is infinite and given freely to Your blessed children. We have found favor from You through our faith in Your Son alone, let us not come to despise our birthright, rather rejoice in it, knowing that You have more than a double portion, You are giving us eternal life. Lord, be with us in all that we do, lead us and guide us through the mercy and grace that only You can provide, while others mock us, remind us that Your grace is sufficient enough to keep our heads up high no matter how many times we fall. I ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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