by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
The wisdom and subtlety of God truly are beyond our comprehension. Sometimes, though, we are privileged to get a glimpse of it in the Scriptures. This is the case with the story of Abraham and his descendants in Genesis, which only makes sense in the light of its New-Testament explanation.<\/p>\n
For instance, why did the promise come through Isaac, not Ishmael? God doesn’t really explain this in Genesis, but He does decree that it is through Isaac that Abraham’s descendants will be named.<\/p>\n
Similarly, when Rebekah is still pregnant with twin boys, God informs her that the older of them will serve the younger. Again, why? As Paul points out in Romans 9, it’s not like either of them had done anything good or bad. When they do start making decisions, Jacob comes across as a trickster and Esau as more of a stand-up guy, but according to the divine decree, the promise descends through Jacob.<\/p>\n
We may never know all the reasons why God does this, but Paul gives us one of them in Romans 9:6-13. Here, Paul is dealing with what I like to think of as the problem of Israel. The Israelites have been God’s chosen people for 1500 years, yet Christ, the final fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises, is rejected by almost all of them. Instead, the newly established churches across the Mediterranean are largely filled with Gentiles, descendants of those whom God did not choose.<\/p>\n
What’s going on here? Did God’s plan fail? Even more strongly, aren’t the fleshly descendants of Abraham entitled to a place in the kingdom of God? Doesn’t the fact they have ended up on the outside means that God has cheated them?<\/p>\n
To answer these questions, Paul returns to the stories of those early ancestors of the Jews. Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn. He should have inherited. However, he did not, nor was Abraham’s line of descent reckoned through him. God’s blessing came not according to the rules of the flesh but according to the promise that God made.<\/p>\n
The same is true with Jacob and Esau. Esau was the firstborn. Once again, he should have received the blessing and the birthright, but he ended up with neither. Instead, Jacob claimed both. Once again, he received them not because of the flesh, but because of the promise that God made to his mother.<\/p>\n
This is a brilliant argument. If the Jews deny that God’s blessing should come according to the promise, they also are denying that their own ancestors should have been blessed. By that logic, they shouldn’t be God’s chosen people at all!<\/p>\n
If, on the other hand, the Jews accept that God’s blessing ought to be according to the promise, then they are left without any grounds for complaining that Abraham’s fleshly descendants have been excluded. They have no less right than the Gentiles to become children of God, but they no longer have any more rights either.<\/p>\n
The argument is brilliant, but the brilliance is not Paul’s, but God’s. God knew before the foundation of the world that the problem of Israel would arise. 2000 years before it came, he arranged the family affairs of an obscure clan of nomads so that His chosen apostle would be able to demolish the objections of the descendants of those same nomads.<\/p>\n
I’m thankful that a God like that is for me rather than against me!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford The wisdom and subtlety of God truly are beyond our comprehension. Sometimes, though, we are privileged to get a glimpse of it in the Scriptures. This is the case with the story of Abraham and his descendants in Genesis, which only makes sense in the light of its New-Testament explanation. For…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[276,557,648,187,120],"class_list":["post-50919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-gentiles","tag-israel","tag-promises","tag-providence","tag-romans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":410,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/410-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":50919,"position":0},"title":"How were Isaac and Jacob blessed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How were Isaac and Jacob blessed? Answer: In the times of the Old Testament children could inherit two things from their parents: property and a blessing. If your parents had three children, then on their death their property was divided four ways (one more than the number of living\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-abraham-famous-what-did-abraham-care-about-most\/","url_meta":{"origin":50919,"position":1},"title":"How is Abraham famous? What did Abraham care about most?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How is Abraham, or Abram, famous? What did Abraham care about most? Answer: Many, many years ago God promised a man named Abram, \"I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing\" (Genesis 12:2). The blessing was conditional on Abram's willingness to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":50919,"position":2},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael’s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-courage-to-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":50919,"position":3},"title":"The Courage to Start","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.\" Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield \"Now the LORD had said to Abram: \"Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56405,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-witness\/","url_meta":{"origin":50919,"position":4},"title":"The Witness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant We are all familiar with the role witnesses fill in our lives. If we have a document that needs some verification, we go to a Notary Public and sign it, and then the notary places a seal on it as proof that the notary has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/moon-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63299,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-promises-to-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":50919,"position":5},"title":"The Promises to Abraham","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 12:1-3 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once in while I run across people who ask when God is going to fulfill the promises he made to Abraham. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Here is a typical quote, \u201cSo if we are to believe God and his word, then all his promises, and all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}