“When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children.”
He is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, but not exclusively. He had compassion on Leah in her loneliness.
And the LORD was watching (Genesis 28)
“At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp for the night.”
Jacob obeyed his father, and journeyed to his homeland in search of a wife and family. And the LORD was watching – with interest.
If the stories of Cain and Ham and Job and Hagar teach us anything, it is that the LORD is indeed watching.
Esau and Cain (Genesis 27)
Esau and Cain faced somewhat similar circumstances. Both were firstborn sons. Both were “passed over” by the LORD in favor of the younger brother. Both became enraged and sought revenge.
The LORD’s words to Cain would also be appropriate for Esau: “Why are you so angry? Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.”
Cain refused to do what was right, and murdered his brother. It was his choice. And now Esau, despite the “blessing” just received from his father, must choose.
The God of Cain and Abel, the God of Esau and the God of Jacob is the same God.
Bless the world through his people (Genesis 26)
Abimelech, king of the Philistines, was an upright man. He rebuked both Isaac and his father Abraham for lying in the same way.
Nevertheless, the Lord was with Isaac and blessed him. Abimelech acknowledged the same, and sought a treaty of peace with Isaac.
God’s design is to bless the world through his people. As He promised Abraham, “All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
God was pleased with Isaac (Genesis 25)
Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife Rebekah, who was barren. For twenty years they were unable to have children.
God did not withhold from them the joy of children because he wanted to make their lives miserable. We are not sure why twenty years passed before Rebekah became pregnant with twins.
But surely God was pleased with Isaac when he pleaded with him — as He was pleased with Abraham when he pleaded for the safety of his nephew in Sodom, or Job when he wrestled with God over his circumstances.
God was in it (Genesis 24)
“He loved her deeply.”
This arranged marriage between Isaac and Rebekah (his first cousin once-removed) was successful because God was in it.
A testimony (Genesis 23)
“You are a prince among us.”
Abraham’s reputation was golden among the Hittites, a testimony to the life he lived before God in this heathen country.
Unimaginable (Genesis 22)
God tested Abraham in a way that it is unimaginable. But maybe the test was not so much, “Abraham, will you take your son out and kill him if I ask you to?”, but rather, “Will you trust me when I said to you that through Isaac you will become a father of nations?”
God heard (Genesis 21)
“But God heard the boy crying.”
God is not deaf. He is not unconcerned; even the cry of a poor servant girl over her son did not go unnoticed.
In a way that we cannot (Genesis 20)
Abraham again introduced his wife Sarah as his sister, afraid that he had settled “in a godless place”. This was after the Lord had promised him that Sarah would bear a son to him in his old age.
This is difficult to understand. The Lord knows the heart in a way that we cannot.
