Division vs Unity

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

DIVISION VS UNITY

Gen 28:1-9

28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham." 5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau. 6 Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman," 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8 Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

NIV

As dysfunctional this family appeared to be, with the division between Isaac loving Esau and Rebekah loving Jacob, and the conflict between the two brothers, there was some unity. The two Hittite women that Esau took as wives were a source of grief to both Isaac and Rebekah. She did not want Jacob to follow Esau by taking a local foreign woman as a wife; she must have talked this over with Isaac, so he called Jacob in to greet him, bless him, and give him instructions on where to obtain a wife. He had to go within his mother's family, to her brother Laban. We know what happens there, but we should focus on Jacob's and Esau's personalities. From what we know, Jacob is somewhat of a gentle being; we might say, a mother's son. Yes, he deceived his brother out of his birthright and his father to obtain the firstborn blessing, but he was also obedient to his mother, and now he is being obedient to his father. Esau continues to show a mean streak, angry at his brother for agreeing to relinquish his birthright just because he was hungry. He was the one who despised his own birthright, yet he allowed his jealousy and anger to get the best of him to the point of wanting to kill his own brother. So, on a united front, Isaac sends Jacob away with the blessing God gave to Abraham. Isaac wanted him to be fruitful and increase in number until he became a community of people, which we know he became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. However, Esau's anger or hatred for his brother, and now against his parents, led him to take another wife, this time from his Grandfather's son, Ismael's family. Esau caused more division among his father's household. We should learn this lesson well: we cannot allow anger, jealousy, or envy to drive us to hatred or revengeful thinking or behavior. If we live in obedience to our Lord, our lives should always be driven by love, which covers a multitude of sins. It would take years for Jacob and Esau to reconcile. We must reconcile any conflict immediately, not allowing the enemy of our souls to gain a foothold or create division among us. We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord, and our love should reflect the unity of God.