Genesis 25:23 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Genesis 25:23

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The Lord spoke to her in a way we are not privileged to have today. He speaks today through his word. She prays for a child and, as Calvin said so many years ago, she gets two nations, two distinct nations, two different kinds within her womb. ‘Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner [or two kinds] of people shall be separated from thy bowels.’ The children will be so distinct and different from the moment of birth. The older will represent the children of darkness, and the younger will represent the family of God, and there will be antagonism from the seed of the serpent to the seed of the woman all the way through. ‘The one people shall be stronger than the other people;’ – as it happens, it will be the seed of the serpent – ‘and the elder [the stronger] shall serve the younger.’ That is the prophecy; that the younger and the weaker of the two will be the one who will bear the seed royal through whom the blessing of Abraham will be extended, who will be give rise to the great nation from whom Messiah will come, through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed. Furthermore, because of their significance in representing the man of faith and the man of the world, the struggle between them was prophetic: it stood for the struggle between the people of God and the world in all ages.The Lord who had delayed before answering Isaac’s prayer now gave twins to Rebekah and created a situation which was totally unexpected. From Esau would come the Edomites. Edom was another name given to Esau (Genesis 25:30). It comes from a word meaning ‘red’ or ‘ruddy’. It was the name given him because of his willingness to sell his birthright for the red pottage being prepared by Jacob. Edom had an alternative name of Seir (Genesis 32:3). Esau’s genealogy is recorded in Genesis 36. He had several children by his three wives and all three of them furnished chiefs in the land of Edom. From Jacob of course came the children of Israel, the new name given to him by the Lord and the name of his descendants.The people that would come from Esau, the Edomites, later caused trouble for Israel when they tried to pass through on their way to the promised land. They were refused permission to pass through the territory of the Edomites even though they asked for reasonable terms, and indeed Edom came out to attack them (Numbers 20). Eventually however Edom was subjugated by Israel. Balaam prophesies that Edom shall eventually be possessed by Israel (Numbers 24:18). Saul later harassed them (1 Samuel 14:47) and David built garrisons throughout the land of Edom (2 Samuel 8:14), and in the prophets they are treated as the enemies of Israel, and as a type of the world which falls under God’s judgment (Isaiah 11:14; 34:5-17; Ezekiel 32:29; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:8; Malachi 1:4). In the more immediate fulfilment of this prophecy in the lives of Jacob and Esau themselves, the same pattern emerges. The older child by a short margin was Esau, but though he was the older son, he served the younger. This was true in a very profound sense, for Jacob inherited the only thing that really mattered, because he was the chosen son to whom the promise was given. The same choice of God had been apparent in the life of Isaac since he had been chosen over Ishmael, even though the latter was older than him. He therefore knew very well the significance of these words to Rebekah. This time the choice was to be more remarkable still in that it was between two twins who had less to distinguish them naturally. Thus God’s choice would be more apparent because it formed the only basis of the difference that arose between them. In the light of the family history and God’s promises not just to Abraham and Isaac individually, but to their descendants, it was obvious that this was a prophecy about the twins which had deeply spiritual significance. The natural order was to be reversed, for it was indisputable in that society that the older child, even though born only minutes earlier as in the case of twins, would receive the priority and the greater inheritance.

Application

God’s choice reverses the natural order, and is not made on the basis of anything intrinsic to man himself. Furthermore, as Paul argues, the choice was made before they were even born or had done good or evil works. It could not therefore have been based on anything in them, but was down to the secret will of God.

But perhaps the greatest lesson here is that a certain theme is kept running that comes all the way from chapter 3. It is the theme of the contention between the church and the world, and the need for the church and the world to be separate. There is no greater disaster than a state church or an empire church. We learn about the separation of the church and the world, and the distinctiveness of the church of God's people. We have seen it before where the people think unity is vital, the unity of the race, unity of the family, and God separates them. But they come back together and he separates them again. The same thing happens in this chapter. It is a lesson that repeats. It is a cable or a thread, as you would call it today, that runs through these chapters, and yet today, people are blind to it. In a season when the church is marrying the world all the time and adopting worldly dress, worldly music, worldly methods, wholesale, people fail to look at this obvious theme which dominates these chapters in Genesis.

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Genesis 25:23 Commentary and Bible Study