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{{DOD-January}}
[[Sarah]] lived to be 127 years old. After her [[death]] [[Abraham]] took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him six sons, and from this marriage came the Midianites. [[Moses]] married a Midianite some 500 years later! [[Abraham]] died at the age of 175, and his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah where [[Abraham]] had buried [[Sarah]].
Chapter 25 records the generations of Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was [[Abraham]]'s son by Hagar. The Ishmaelites made Arabia their home and became known as the Arabs. Thus, [[Abraham]] was the father of the present Arab nation, as well as the father of the Jewish nation.
Verses 24-34 record the birth of [[Jacob]] and Esau to Isaac and Rebekah. Since Esau was the firstborn of these twin boys, he was Isaac's natural heir, but [[God]] chose [[Jacob]] to be the transmitter of the precious heritage. In verse 23 [[God]] told Rebekah that "the elder shall serve the younger." Rebekah loved [[Jacob]], while Isaac loved Esau. Isaac was about 137 years old now. His impatience to give Esau the blessing suggests his own carnal plans, not [[God]]'s will.
Had he forgotten [[God]]'s [[Word]] that "the elder shall serve the younger," or was he trying to change [[God]]'s plan? Rebekah had been told by [[God]] that [[Jacob]] would receive [[God]]'s blessing, yet she schemed and plotted to make sure Esau was left out. And certainly [[Jacob]] knew of [[God]]'s promise for his life. Yet he listened to his mother instead of [[God]]. [[Jacob]] would pay dearly in years to come for his [[sin]], as would his mother. She never saw her son again. Esau deliberately acted to hurt her, and her bad example before [[Jacob]] cost him twenty years of trial. The result of this [[sin]] of unbelief was a division in the home. Rather than trusting [[God]] to do what He said He would do, [[God]]'s [[Word]] and timetable were doubted, and the entire family suffered because of unbelief and disobedience. When [[Christians]] take things into their own hands, they can expect the result of their disobedience to be something less than pleasant!
