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!