Preaching Genesis 25–Isaac and Rebekah
My final sermon of the semester was on the text of Genesis – the birth narrative of Jacob and Esau. It’s a simple passage, but one that created a lot of controversy in my class. It’s a text with many meanings…
The birth of Jacob and Esau is preceded by the prophesy that the “older shall serve the younger”. In the immediate text, this response is given to Rebekah after she inquires of the Lord regarding the pain that she is enduring in pregnancy. The prophecy in this respect is comforting: God assures Rebekah that her pregnancy is going properly—she will certainly bear children.
However, in the larger context of Genesis and in the mind of the Israelite audience, this prophecy also indicates that God is going to work through the younger son—Jacob/Israel, instead of the older son. AND, in the larger context of the Bible through the prophet Malachi and the letter to the Romans, this prophecy emphasizes God’s sovereignty in being able to direct circumstances as He desires: having control over and a knowledge of the future.
I had a hard time preaching the second meaning of the text in my sermon this semester—I didn’t feel that it represented the meaning of my specific passage: Genesis 25:19-26. I wanted my audience to walk away from the sermon thinking: Genesis 25 teaches Isaac and Rebekah’s faith and God’s comfort. I felt that if they walked away thinking: Genesis 25 teaches God’s sovereignty, they weren’t really getting the main point of the text—they were instead getting the main point of the whole Bible’s treatment of the text, or the main point of another text. I just could not see God’s main point in Genesis as God wishing to declare, “I’m in control”—I think we hear that message in the book that long before chapter 25.
Don’t get me wrong: you can use Genesis 25 to preach God’s sovereignty, but I think the audience should really walk away thinking that your main text was something other than Genesis 25—they should hear your main text as Malachi 1’s prophecy, “I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau” or Romans 9’s quotation of the text as it says, “…there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER ." Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED , BUT ESAU I HATED."”
Anyway—you’ve heard this rant before…perhaps my sermon will convince you. I hope you like the fruits of my labors, shared below…
My Sermon Preparation Documents: (Click to Download)
The specific way I chose to illustrate the passage – My Homeletical Sermon Outline
The final result: My sermon audio – Version 1 – Version 2
My sermon script – click below to read…
Preaching the Gospel of Mark
Preaching is one of those classes where I am challenged to put all the things I have learned together in order to teach in a way that reflects my knowledge of the original text, my understanding of the story of the entire Bible, my heart for the audience, and my skills as a communicator.
The key questions I must ask are:
(1) “What is the original author trying to communicate to his audience?”
(2) “What is the universal principle in the author’s message?”
(3) “How can I challenge my contemporary audience to apply this in a specific area of their life?”
Studying the gospel of Mark for this particular assignment, I was astounded at the level of irony that he writes into the stories early in his gospel. It appears to me that much like modern commercials, Mark used the “shock factor” to get his audience’s attention on a critically important issue: a person’s willingness to consider Jesus’ claims to be God is necessary for them to understand the gospel.
I hope you like the fruits of my labors, shared below…
My Sermon Preparation Documents: (Click to Download)
The breakdown of the passage – My Exegetical Outline (page 1)
& the general principle we can apply to all situations – My Theological Outline (page 2)
The specific way I chose to illustrate the passage – My Homeletical Sermon Outline
The final result: My sermon audio
My sermon script – click below to read…
Thoughts on the Future of the Bible…
The Bible daily becomes more and more accessible to the world through increased literacy, cheap printing methods, and online downloads…the problem, however, is that the people now reading the Word of God do not know how to find it’s true meaning.
I, myself, have struggled with this very problem for most of my own life. My affection for sermons and books comes from a dependence upon other people, whom I trust to interpret the Word of God accurately in my ignorance.
In my previous small group, it was requested that we take time apart from study guides to study a book of the Bible directly, and I specifically avoided doing so because of my fear of misinterpreting the text.
In my time here, I have spent time specifically learning how to study the Bible on an academic level, and in a small group setting, thanks both to my school and my church. I am grateful for the opportunity to sit under men who have spent time learning to facilitate group discussion. I am elated to be listening to the instruction of men who have spent their entire careers studying the Word of God and translating many of the English Bibles we use today, including the newly released Lexham English Bible.
Unfortunately, the proper tools for proper Bible interpretation are still largely inaccessible. The most used English Bible interpretations are not free electronically (NIV, NASB, NKJV, MSG, NCV, NLT) and the only commentaries and lexical aids available are those that are so old they are outside copyright protection. These commentaries, like the one by Matthew Henry, are not helpful in understanding the text, since they mainly rely upon a limited understanding of Greek and the context of first century Israel. Dictionaries and Commentaries (IVP Bible Background Commentary and the TDNT) and Lexical Aids like BDAG and HALOT are $100+ a copy, in print or electronically. Bible Software with relatively helpful and accurate commentaries cost from $200 up to $2,000.
Scholars and teachers in the Christian circles get paid poorly enough, so I do no wish to downplay what little royalties they receive, however, I dearly hope that we can make these resources cheaper and cheaper in the future. In this respect, I do recommend to the computer user, The Word Bible Software, which is available freely and includes some original language tools, and iLumina Software, which is the best commentary-type resource I can find for the price.
![iL_BtmTag[1]](http://www.journeymanproject.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/iL_BtmTag1.jpg "iL_BtmTag[1]")
I am also extremely hopeful that we can start teaching our church members, especially our small group leaders, to lead Bible studies with a accurate understanding of the text. I think the Bible is a book that needs to be experienced in a group setting apart from listening to the pastor lecture from the pulpit. I think it is powerful and life changing to discuss the text at every level, and I hope to help men and women feel more confident in leading those discussions in the future.
The Misuse of the Bible (Cont.)
Let me add a little substance to my post yesterday. I have a tenancy to be cynical when it comes to languages, not because I wish to display any ability of mine, but because I've learned that it is VERY important to ensure you are not adding to the Words of God by promoting your own meaning with His text. In all honestly, I'm just as likely to make mistakes at this point...I haven't learned enough Hebrew to be effective in using it yet.
What makes Hebrew or Greek difficult?
1. In order to use a language, you need to know "syntax/grammar" not just the meaning of words. Remember sentence diagramming in elementary school, where you had to show the relationship of words? Well, that matters a lot in other languages too. The Greek word for "the" has 24 different forms. Why? Because how it is used in a sentence matters.
2. No word means the same thing every time it appears in Scripture. "Son" in Hebrew is used to identify children, distant relatives, and even the nation of Israel. We'd have some really interesting stories if we translated "the Sons of Israel" as if it always mean Jacob's 12 sons. The Hebrew word "day" can mean a physical day, or an span of time.What indicates which meaning is being used? Lots of things, in particular, the words "evening" "morning" or "first day" always specify a 24 hour period of time. Hmmm...wish a lot more scientists were aware of that.
3. Greeks and Hebrews had idioms too. Have you ever heard the expression "my dogs are barking" or "we're cooking with gas, now"? Well, they don't mean the way they sound...which is why non-English speakers spend time specifically learning to identify these phrases before being thrown into the language. Greek has some word combination that can't be easily translated either. How would you know? You've got to know the language!
4. What time frame is it? Greek and Hebrew have very different ways of specifying past, present, and future. Completed action, action in progress, and potential action. Greek builds it all into different forms of the verb. Hebrew uses the same verbs, in a specific order with other words. Either way, there's a big difference between the statement if you get these elements wrong. "I am my beloved's" vs. "I was my beloved's" vs. "I might be my beloved's" (just a humorous joke, not a real example)
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Sites You Need to See:
A Tool for Better Bible Study: NetBible.org
I have blogged a number of times on great Bible study tools that I run across. In all my reading and research, nothing appears to be more critical to our growth in the Christian life than personal, reflective time spent in the Scripture.
The problem I find too often, is that when people get into the Scriptures, they get hung up on difficult passages or odd themes. Most often, those who try hard to resolve those problems get lost in the extensive results that appear in a Google search, or they find that the freely available commentaries like Matthew Henry’s work from long ago, do not adequately answer their questions.
The problem that I find is that too much great content is locked inside the confines of publishing contracts and academic institutions that demand compensation for anything they create. Commentary sets that I use on a daily basis through the library at Dallas Theological Seminary cost thousands of dollars a set – $50-100 a volume. Although I do understand the need to appreciate great academic work, it shames me that virtually no good contemporary content has been made available by the American and European Christian communities…almost…
Tom Constable, a lifetime professor of the Bible at Dallas Theological Seminary, spent most of his career compiling notes on each book of the Bible. In the course of 30+ years, he has accumulated over 7,000 pages of guidance for those reading the Bible in an easy to understand, unbiased format. And he has always ensured that they could be obtained freely electronically by anyone who wanted them at soniclight.com
Now they are built into the NETBible website, so that you can access them as well as other notes and resources with the Bible side-by-side. As a student of the languages, I am also appreciative of the integrated Hebrew and Greek resources as well.
Hopefully, this is only the start of things to come.
www.netbible.org