Hebrews 11:14-19 Bible Teaching

Hebrews 11.23
August 31st 2014
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Come back, Hebrews 11:20-23

So the writer of Hebrews has taken us through Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah.

We’ve noted that in this chapter on faith that a common thread is the writer prefaces talking about each of these biblical characters by saying:

By faith . . .
By faith . . .
By faith . . .

And today’s verses are no different.

We’ve also seen that in each of these cases mentioned the men and women first believed what appears to have been impossible (for their day and age) and trusted that the Lord would see things through – that He would offer the provision, the solution, the way.

Finally, in every case – except in the case of Enoch (because nothing is mentioned) there is a built in suffering that comes right up along side of living by faith.

Please note – the suffering is not always physical (can be) but the suffering is better understood by waiting on the Lord to perform HIS will in our lives rather than performing our own to make things “work.”

To add to the complexity and difficulty in comprehension, waiting on the Lord does NOT mean doing nothing.

Abel offered sacrifice.
Enoch preached.
Noah built an darn ark for 120 years.
And Abraham “sojourned” and “traveled” and “took Isaac” up to be sacrificed.

The clue to it all come in by the fact that we are commanded and directed by God and within the confines of such direction we act – but not beyond them.

Now last week Charles asked about the age of Isaac when Abraham took him up to be sacrificed.

I couldn’t site the way the math was done so give me one second to try and explain.

First of all, Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was ninety years old. (Genesis 17:17)

She would have been 92-95 (at most) when he was weened, and she died at 127, which would have made Isaac 37 at the time.

So we take these dates as general background information relative to time in Isaac’s early life.

All the events of chapters 21 and 22 (sending away Ishmael and the stuff with Abimelech and passages within them that say things like, “and many days” passed help us realized Isaac was certainly not a child (1-8) when taken to the Mount.

Then in chapter 21 the use of the term “lad.” In the Word it is used to describe everything from a young boy, to a young man, to a servant.

In fact, the word used to dewcribe the “young men” (servants) who went with Abraham to the mount and were told to wait with the animals is the exact same Hebrew word used for lad.

Then we know Isaac was given the task of carrying the wood for the sacrifice – a job not suited to boys under 10 and more probably suited to young men in their teens or older.

Jewish historian wrote:

“Now Isaac was 25 years old,” in Antiquities of the Jews, Bible scholar Adam Clarke suggests that he was 33, “Jamison, Fausset and Brown suggest that he was 20, and others note that he had to have been at least an age and agility to travel up a mountain side bearing a load of wood.

In the end, even though most scholars agree that the best translation of lad in the scripture be “young man,” we can only suppose so – unless children were extremely adept back in the day.

So let’s read on now, and we will begin with a mention of none other than . . . Isaac.

Hebrews 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

So, today let’s hit the highlights of these four Hebrew patriarchs mentioned in these verses –

Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses (but really Moses parents in this first mention). (Verse 20)

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

In Genesis 27:26-40 we read of Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, his two sons.

Where was the faith involved? I pronouncing a blessing on them that had application to their future state.

Again, Isaac spoke, apparently by revelation from God and He so spoke with the full confidence that God would accomplished what He said.

Really, this is the foundational to biblical faith – believing in the promises of God.

Isaac had no ability in his person to will or see any of the promises bestowed on his sons fulfilled – he was old and nearly blind .

So the writer informs us that he spoke by faith, apparently resting on the fact that God had spoken (through him as patriarch) and what he said would be.

Now, we won’t make our study of Jacob and Esau exhaustive by any means but let’s take a minute and learn about these two sons of Isaac.

The name Esau means hairy – not harry but “hairy.” He was also given the name, “Edom,” which means red and could have application to the red lentil pottage for which he sold his birthright or the fact that he was just a hairy red-head.

His mother, Rebekah, gave birth to twins and Esau was the first out. In giving birth we encounter a war between Esau and his younger twin brother Jacob – Esau came out first but Jacob had ahold of his heel, signifying that Jacob was after what Esau naturally possessed.

The hatred that brewed between the brothers continued on into the nations that each brother founded.

In process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a shepherd – a significant foreshadowing occupation while his much cooler and manly brother Esau became what scripture calls, a “son of the desert.”

A wild man, a man’s man, a devoted hunter.

On one occasion Esau returned from a hunt and was famished. Following his natural man instincts and drives, he sold his birthright as the eldest son to Jacob, who (thereby) obtained the covenant blessing.

Esau tried to get the birthright back in time but was consistently defeated by the stealth of his brother Jacob.

It appears that he tried to regain what he had so recklessly parted with, but was defeated in his attempts through the stealth of his brother.

A birthright, biblically, denotes the special privileges and advantages that belonged to the first-born son among the Jews.

He became the priest of the family.

For instance, later when Jacob would have all his sons Reuben was the first-born and so the priesthood of the tribes belonged to him. But that honor was taken from him and transferred by God to Levi.

Additionally, the first-born son had allotted to him also a double portion of the paternal inheritance.

So we can see that Esau was a tap bit impetuous in selling his for a mess of pottage.

At forty years of age Esau took not a Jewish wife but he married two Canaanitish maidens – Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon.

Later Esau tried to placate his parents by marrying his cousin Mahalath, who was the daughter of Ishmael.

This led him to align with the Ishmaelite tribes and he settled in that region.

After some thirty years Jacob and Esau reconciled a life of division and then was never seen again except at the death of his father.

He permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy chief in the land of Edom.

Many years later, when the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, the Edomites remembered the old quarrel between the brothers and with great hatred warred against Israel, the name given to his brother Jacob by God.

The name Jacob means one who follows on another’s heels; “supplanter.

Apparently he was of a quiet and gentle disposition, and as stated grew up followed the life of a shepherd.

His dealing with Esau, however, showed much mean selfishness and cunning (Ge 25:29-34) and when we compare the character of the two brothers it appears that Esau was much easier to like and trust.

The only significant difference between the two (when it came to God) was the fact that Jacob was a man of faith but Esau was a man of the flesh.

When Isaac was about 160 years of age, Jacob and his mother conspired to deceive the aged patriarch (Ge 27:1-46), with the view of procuring the transfer of the birthright to himself.

In getting this birthright, Jacob was assured (according to Genesis 22:8) that the promised Messiah would come through his lineage.

The story is fascinating of how Jacob actually received the blessing the writer of Hebrews cites here and could not be more dramatic than if Hollywood produced it.

This is how it reads: (Genesis 27)

27:1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:
12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved.
15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:
16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.
21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.
24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me.
32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.
36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

Soon after his acquisition of his father’s blessing Jacob became conscious of his guilt. At the same time he grew fearful of his hunter brother so at the suggestion of Rebekah Isaac sent him away to Haran, 400 miles or more away to find a wife among his cousins, the family of Laban, the Syrian (28).

While sojourning out to Harran, Jacob, weary and alone on the journey witnessed angels of God “ascending and descending on the ladder whose top reached to heaven. He will, upon his return engage with angels again.

It was in the country called Pandamaram that that Jacob met Rachel, whom he loved.

But just as Jacob was conniving so was his future father in law, Rachel’s dad. And from his interactions with him Jacob was going to learn some lessons.

Laban would not consent to give Jacob Rachel in marriage till he had served him seven years; but to Jacob these years “seemed but a few days, for the love he had to her.”

But when the seven years passed, Laban craftily deceived Jacob, and gave him his older daughter Leah.

Jacob was required to serve Laban another seven years before before he obtained the hand of his beloved Rachel.

Unfortunately, “life-long sorrow, disgrace, and trials (which were nothing but God allowing Jacob to reap what he sowed) were the consequence of this double union.”

After fourteen years of service, Jacob desired to return to his parents, but at the entreaty of Laban he tarried yet six years with him, tending his flocks (Genesis 31:41).

And after 20 years Jacob then set out with his family and property “to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan” (Genesis 31:1-55).

Laban was angry when he heard that Jacob had left, he pursued him, there was a confrontation, and in the end Laban said goodbye to his daughters and returned to his home in Mesopotamia.

This parting served to disconnect the future nation of Israel with Mesopotamia.

Remember, Abraham came out of Harran, a pagan city, where Jacob returned to find Rebecca.

But once he and Leah and Rebeka and their brood left the ties were cut for good.

Israel was about to become a nation of its own.

Upon his return Jacob was met by a company of angels greeting him on his return and sort of welcoming him back to the Land of Promise.

He called the name of the place Mahanaim, (which means “the double camp,” – probably because of the presence of his own camp and that of the angels).

Jacob then learns that his brother Esau, the mans man, in headed toward him and his family with a band of 400 soldiers or men.

In great agony of mind Jacob now prepares for the worst and he is brought to the place where there are no options left for him – either God will save him or his brother will wipe him out.

So Jacob takes to earnest prayer – then sends a gift to Esau with a message:

“a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob.”

He then had his whole family moved across a river but he remained behind – doing what?

Communing with God.

While engaged we read of a wild encounter Jacob had – there appeared to him one an angel or the Lord Himself (in the form of a man) who wrestled with Jacob.

Interestingly, in this mysterious MMA contest Jacob prevailed, and as a memorial of it his name was changed to Israel (which means “wrestler with God”) and the place where the match occurred he named “Peniel,” “for”, said he, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Ge 32:25-31).

After this anxious night of warfare, Jacob went on his way, now halted in the leg,
but strong in the assurance of the divine favor of God.

Esau came forth and met him and his spirit of revenge was appeased.

I personally wonder if Esau, who loved a good hunt, would have been incited to violence had he met a successful and thriving Jacob.

But perhaps seeing a humble brother, now limping, turned the hunter from revenge and to forgiveness.

In any case the brothers reconcile, and and during the remainder of their lives maintained friendly relations.

After a brief sojourn at Succoth, Jacob moved forward and pitched his tent near Shechem (q.v.), Ge 33:18; but at length, under divine directions, he moved to Bethel, where he made an altar unto God (Ge 35:6,7).

It was here that God appeared to him and renewed the Abrahamic covenant on his behalf.

I will not cover his history with Rachael (and other wives bearing him sons) in depth.

All we will say is he had twelve of them, plus at least one daughter, and now being renamed Israel, these sons become the twelve tribes of Israel (and/or The Children of Israel).

From Leah, the first wife he was tricked into marrying, and Rachel, whom he loved, and their handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah, the boys were:

Reuben (the first born), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, (the daughter Dinah) then Joseph and then Benjamin.

So thus far the writer of Hebrews has laid out a chronology of faith among the Hebrew patriarchs while at the same time show how God directed the birth of these chosen people.

Verse 21, speaking of one of Jacob’s younger and favorite sons (Joseph) the writer writes:

21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

Now, there are several interesting things about this verse before we get into the specifics of it.

First of all, the writer does not mention the faithfulness of anything else Jacob did in his life –

Not wrestling with God
Not serving twenty years for Laban
Not praying earnestly to be delivered of Esau . . .

NONE OF it!

All he shares is that by faith Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph – named Ephraim and Manasseh.

Now there is a whole big discussion on what verse 21 really mean when it says that “he worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”

NOT going to go into it.

I believe it means that in honor of God and in faith he bowed himself forth, trusting that God would make His promises come true in good time.

Joseph also promised his father that his bones would NOT be left in Egypt and it is possible that in connection to this that Jacob believed and knew, even though he was about to pass, that his remains would not remain there by in the land promised to Him and His posterity by God.

Jacob blessed all of his sons so why the special mention of Joseph’s two, Ephraim and Manasseh?

Manasseh was Joseph’s firstborn and Ephraim his second.

When Jacob blessed these boys, he switched his hands (crossed them) and made Ephraim the birth rite and Manasseh second. Joseph tried to stop this but Jacob was insistent, saying that Ephraim would be a greater nation.

Throughout the Old Testament the name Ephraim refers to the ten tribes comprising Israel’s northern kingdom and NOT just the single tribe of Ephraim from Joseph’s singular son.
(Ezekiel 37:16 and Hosea 5:3)

The northern Kingdom was also referred to as Israel while the southern was called Judah.

Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manessa as a means to include both of Joseph’s sons as his own, which is why they are added into the twelve tribes and Joseph is removed.

Then moving on and out, the writer then mentions only one of all these sons of Jacob in the next person of faith – Joseph, saying in our last verse for the say

22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

Interestingly enough, none of the other brothers are mentioned and again, the only feat of faith mentioned about Joseph was the fact that he gave command and trusted that His bones too, would not be left in Egypt but trusted they would be taken when the children of Israel left Egypt.

This is what Joseph said to his brethren:

“I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

This prediction of Joseph could have rested only on faith in the promise of God.

And Genesis 50:25-26 tells us that in the face of this prophecy:

Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel; saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”

What He was really being faithful in was not so much that his bones would be taken out of Israel but that the time was coming when the children of Israel would leave Egypt.

We all know the story of Joseph. But let’s hit the highlights as a refresher.

His name means remover or increaser.

He was the eldest (of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel) who said, when Joseph was born:

“God hath taken away [Heb ‘asaph] my reproach.”

Scripture says:

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age,” and that, due to his favor for the boy, “made him a long garment with sleeves” (which would have been a long full robe worn by nobles.

Because the coat is described as being in many pieces it has come to be called a coat of many colors, like a patchwork – so it may have had many colors – or not.

When he was about seventeen years old Joseph incurred the jealous hatred of his brothers. According to Genesis 37 they “hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.”

When he started telling them his dreams their hatred increased.

When Jacob;s sons were out in Shecham tending to the flocks Jacob wanted to know how they were doing so he send Joseph as his messenger to make an inquiry about them.

When he got there Joseph discovered that they left Shechem for a place called Dothan and he followed them there.

As soon as they saw him coming they began to plot against him, and would have killed him had not Reuben intervened and got them to sell the boy to a company of Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces (shekels) of silver (about $2, 10s.), ten pieces less than the current value of a slave, for “they cared little what they had for him, if so be they were rid of him.”

These merchants were going down with a varied assortment of merchandise to the Egyptian market, and so they carried Joseph there with them and ultimately sold him as a slave to Potiphar, an “officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard”

But Genesis 37:36 tells us that “The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake,” and Potiphar made him overseer over his house.

At length a false charge of impropriety was brought against him by Potiphar’s wife and he was at once cast into the state prison where he remained for at least two years.

After a while inside the “chief of the cupbearers” and the “chief of the bakers” of Pharaoh’s household were cast into the same prison (Genesis 40:2).

Each of these new prisoners dreamed a dream in the same night, which Joseph interpreted, the event occurring as he had said.

This led to Joseph’s being remembered subsequently by the chief butler when Pharaoh also dreamed.

At his suggestion Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the king’s dreams.

Pharaoh was well pleased with Joseph’s wisdom in interpreting his dreams, and with his counsel with reference to the events then predicted; and he set him over all the land of Egypt (Ge 41:46), and gave him the name of Zaphnath-paaneah.

He was married to Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On, and thus became a member of the priestly class.

It is believed he was now about thirty years of age.

As Joseph had interpreted, seven years of plenty came, during which he stored up great abundance of corn in granaries built for the purpose. These years were followed by seven years of famine “over all the face of the earth,” when “all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn” (Ge 41:56,57; 47:13,14).

Thus “Joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought.”

Afterwards all the cattle and all the land, and at last the Egyptians themselves, became the property of Pharaoh.

During this period of famine Joseph’s brethren also came down to Egypt to buy corn.

The history of his dealings with them, and of the manner in which he at length made himself known to them, is one of the most interesting narratives that can be read and covers four whole chapters in Genesis (42-45).

We will cover these next week and show the parallels between Joseph and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Really amazing.

Q and A?