LIFE IS MEASURED IN THE DETAILS

Genesis 25:12-19
Bob Bonner
October 15, 2006

The life, the character of a man is measured in the accumulated details of his life, not by 1, 2, or 3 of his successes or failures, but the sum of all the details of his life. Jim Furyk is a professional golfer, who, in the details, has proven over the years that he is a man of integrity. Presently, he is the number two-ranked golfer in the world, behind Tiger Woods. On Sunday, October 1st, at the WGC-American Express Championship, Jim hit a wayward shot that hit a non-natural object, like a golf cart, then bounced back toward the fairway, but did not quite make it. He found his ball resting in what is called “an unplayable lie,” something that makes it either impossible to hit the ball or if you do, you will damage your equipment or endanger someone in the process of hitting.  According to the rules of that course, he was allowed a “free drop.” What that means is that he is able to pick up the ball, and drop it, no closer to the hole, nor can he better his position on the course. The free drop is simply to enable him to hit the ball.

After taking his free drop, he had an open shot to the green. He checked with the official, and the official declared that it was a fair drop and that he could proceed with the play without penalty. From that point on, if Jim wanted to, he could have played the ball, and by the letter of the law of golf, he would have played fair.  However, as Jim lined up his shot, he paused, went over to the official and said, “I have to add a stroke to my score, because there is no way that I could have fairly hit this ball through the trees to the green if I had not had this free drop.” That one additional stroke cost Jim Furyk over $130,000. But in the minds of many, it increased their stock in his character. He consciously did what was right, even though it was painful.

Whether Jim Furyk knew it or not, his life illustrates an important principle. That principle is that a series of deliberate, conscious, small decisions reveals much about a person’s character. Furthermore, the effects of those conscious decisions will make a difference on the lives of people around you and those who come long after you. Golfers like Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk are role models whose very lives will affect not only the integrity of the game of golf, which depends so much on trust, but also, their role modeling will affect the golfers who follow in their footsteps for years to come.

One of the major teachings woven throughout the second half of the book of Genesis is this very same principle. Throughout the second half of the book we see the lesson illustrated that not one of us is an island, whose life does not affect others. Everyone of us and every one of our decisions, small or great, does impact those around us. 

This morning, we are simply going to introduce the second half of the book of Genesis, giving us a structure from which to better study, understand and apply the very practical truths of this book to our everyday lives. This particular truth about our lives being made up of a series of deliberate decisions that affect the lives of others around us is reinforced by none other than a very important structural makeup of the book of Genesis. Through better understanding the structure of this book, we will see that the personalities in this second half of the book, such persons as Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Rebekah, Judah, Rueben and Joseph, just to name a few, emphasize this truth over and over and over again. One act of obedience or disobedience does not a character or reputation make in the eyes of God. Although individual choices and decisions are extremely important, over a life span, it is the sum of all of those decisions and where they lead us, that determines our character and God’s blessing in our lives.

There are two ways to approach the structural reading and study of the book of Genesis. The first and most common structural approach is what I will call “The Content Approach.” Typically this approach breaks down the book on the basis of the content found in a chapter or series of chapters. For instance: Genesis 1-2 deals with creation or life on earth before the Fall. Genesis 3-11 focuses on the Rebellion of the first people on earth. In these chapters, you have the Fall, the First Murder when Cain kills Able, the wickedness of the people leading up to the Flood. After the Flood, when the second people’s of the earth start over through Noah’s sons, we read about the wickedness of all the descendants of Noah that lead to the building of the Tower of Babel. It is during this rebellious period that God chooses to raise up a man, Abraham, in chapters 12-25, who will become the father of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, who were to be His righteous people, His light to the world. When God raises up Abraham, Noah, his sons, and many who lived during the era of the Tower of Babel are still alive. In fact, many of those residents from the Tower of Babel days are still alive and living in the land of Canaan when Abraham first arrives there. These are the original Canaanites who had turned against God to worship idols. So when God chose Abraham, He did so out of this mass of pagans to raise up a nation that will worship the one and only God, Yahweh.

The balance of Genesis traces the line of the patriarchs. From Genesis 25-27 you have the history Isaac. From 28-36, we read of the patriarch Jacob. And typically, from 37-50 the focus of those chapters is said to be the life of Joseph.

With a few variations, this is the way most of us tend to structure the book of Genesis. But in doing so, we miss some very important observations, deliberately included by the author of Genesis, to signal a serious problem.

 Let me show you a second manner of approaching the study of this book that accentuates a lesson we all need to learn. Rather than dividing the book up based on content or personalities, I want us to look at its structure based on a key Hebrew linguistic indicator called a toledot. The word toledot comes from the Hebrew word meaning “to bear children.” In the book of Genesis, this Hebrew word is translated into the phrase “the generations of.”  Every time this phrase “these are the generations of” is used in Genesis it marks a major section of the book is coming into play. It’s significance, according to Dr. Bruce Waltke, a Hebrew scholar of world renown, is that it points to something following this expression that is “produced or brought into being by someone.” In other words, every time you come across this statement, it signifies a major break in the book and it stresses that there is something produced which follows this statement that is very important.

For instance: The following is the order of the toledot or the statements of “these are the generations of” found in the book of Genesis: The first time we find this statement is in 2:4 “the generations of creation;” (some translations may have something like “This is the account of the heavens” but the literal Hebrew is “the generations of creation.” Did the creation of the world, according to Genesis, begin with chapter 2? No, it began with 1:1. So, why isn’t the statement the “generation of creation” found earlier in chapter 1? The answer is, the point of the toledot that Moses is making. Moses’ point is not so much about explaining the facts of God’s general creation, but to alert the reader as to what is at the heart of all of God’s creation, the creation of man and woman, Adam and Eve which follows verse 4.

The next time “the generations of” is used is in reference to Adam and Eve in 5:1. Like chapter two, the expression here is not highlighting Adam, but it is highlighting what follows, the generations of people that are wicked leading up to Noah. 

Likewise, 6:9 which speaks of the “generations of Noah” points forward to the lives of Noah’s sons immediately following the Flood. 

Then in 10:1 it speaks to the “generations of Noah’s sons” which forward to the content which follows, the announcement of the most significant of Noah’s sons, Shem. It will be through Shem that the eventual Messiah, Jesus Christ comes into the world. So Moses is moving forward in the grand scale of history and focusing more and more on specific persons that lead to specific events that God has ordained for His own glory.

The next toledot in order, is in 11:10, where we have the “generations of Shem” which points to the next leading individual in God’s providential line that will eventually lead us to the Messiah, and that is the man Terah.

In 11:27, we have the next toledot the “generations of Terah” which points us to his son Abraham. At this point, the rest of Genesis tracks Abraham’s family, the patriarchs of Isaac, and Jacob leading us up to the period of Exodus when the nation of Israel is born.

So every toledot up to this point introduces us to the very next important aspect that is to come right after it, in the history of the founding of the nation of Israel. From Noah to Abraham we have had a zeroing in on key people. Now watch this! The very next “generations of” that you would expect to read about should be who? You would expect that since Noah pointed to Shem, Shem pointed to Terah and Terah pointed to Abraham, that Abraham should be the next toledot pointing to his son Isaac. However, there is no toledot that reads “these are the generations of Abraham.” The very next “generations of” is the “generations of Ishmael” in 25:12.  This is a huge omission. Why is what should be there not there? Why is there no “these are the generations of Abraham?”

We will come back to this question of why there is no “generations of Abraham” mentioned in this book, but first, let’s finish tracking down the trail and structure of this toledot through the rest of the book. The significance of this rabbit trail will prove to be important for you.

ook with me at Genesis 25:12, and lets read about the next toledot “generations of Ishmael.” We read, ¹²Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; ¹³and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam ¹⁴and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, ¹⁵Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷These are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. ¹⁸They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives.”

In these verses, we have all that is written about what Ishmael’s life produced by way of generations of people. In addition, this report of the life-span of this man, a non-Israelite is an exception in Scripture, suggesting the importance of this descendant of Abraham.

What follows v. 12 and the statement of “the records of the generations of Ishmael” are the fulfilled promises of God to Abraham and Hagar about their son, Ishmael and his descendants. God promised that Ishmael would experience the blessing of having many descendants, but it also reveals that he would forever stand apart from the Abrahamic line of divine blessing.

Throughout history, we see a divine contrast between Ishmael’s descendants and Isaac’s descendants. There is a deliberate separation made between the two sons of Abraham. Whereas Isaac’s descendants, the Israelites were given a homeland, Ishmael’s was not. Furthermore, Ishmael’s descendants, the Arabs of today (not all the Muslims, just the Arabs) will forever live in hostility with their brothers, the Israelites.

Finally, in verse 17, we are told that when Ishmael died he was “gathered to his people.” Dr. Bruce Waltke suggests that since Abraham was said to have been gathered to his people, in a specific geographical place and Ishmael was gathered to his people, in a non-geographical place; that Ishmael and Abraham were gathered to two different groups of people. Whether this is meant to mean that Ishmael was lost and Isaac was saved is debated among theologians.

Although Ishmael was not the product of Abraham and Sarah, the point of this toledot is not only to close down the history of Ishmael, but it is also to show that he and his descendants are not without a future and destiny.

From here, let’s fast-forward for a moment, to check out the last few toledots so that we can see the complete structure of this book, the major sections and their overall importance, from the Hebrew breakdown of the book. The very next toledot is in Genesis 25:19, which reads, “Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac;” This section covers up to Genesis 36:1. 

In Genesis 36:1, we read about the “generations of Esau.” This rather short section, is similar to the short section concerning Ishmael. They both proceed the closing accounts of a line of people that were not handed the divine blessing of God. Following each were the accounts of the lives of Isaac and Jacob, the chosen and predestined ones. Esau, like Ishmael was blessed with many descendants, but did not possess the blessing of a promised land. Furthermore, according to 36:9, 43, the point of this account of Esau was to highlight that he was the father of the Edomites.

The last toledot found in Genesis is that which is mentioned in 37:1, “these are the generations of Jacob.” Although this chapter opens with the story of Joseph, the importance of the remainder of this book pertains more to the transformation of Jacob’s sons and the preparation for the birth of the new nation of Israel, than it does the life of Joseph. By the end of this section, Jacob finally grows into and finishes as the godly patriarch that God had called him to be, after much personal failure in his life. In addition, his family would enter Egypt, as an embryo, that 400 years later would be birthed in to God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, the subject of which follows Genesis in the book of Exodus.

Now, let’s go back to examine the curious omission of the toledot that everyone would expect, the one which would read, “these are the generations of Abraham.”

When the purpose of the book of Genesis is to trace the origin to the birth of the nation of Israel, and you have a gap in toledots with the greatest of the patriarchs, the one to whom all Jews point as being their spiritual father, Abraham, that is quite a significant omission that screams for an answer.

To answer this question of why no “generations of Abraham,” one must keep in mind that the major reasons for the toledot was not to highlight the individual named in the toledot, but to point forward to, to highlight the key individual who follows him. 

Let’s go back to see the truth of this observation. Let’s begin with Noah. The “generations of Noah” alerted us to the fact that one of his sons was to be raised up as the spiritual leader of humanity. The very next toledot identified this person to be Shem, when we read, “this is the generations of Shem.” Then, we are to expect the very next important leader to be mentioned from Shem, and that is revealed in the toledot, “this is the generations of Terah.” Please keep in mind that Terah’s theology was all wrong. He had already been worshiping idols along with God, and yet, he was kept in the sequence of toledots. I mention this because if someone is not going to be highlighted who should have been, that person must have been more spiritually disobedient than Terah.

The fact that Abraham’s toledot is omitted is not a reflection on Abraham for we know that, in the eyes of God, Abraham was not a spiritual failure. Abraham had failed many times in faith during his life, but overall, like King David who had failed, God honored both men. Of David, the Scriptures would record that he was a man after God’s own heart. Imagine, a murderer and an adulterer being called that. Abraham, likewise, would be honored with the title of “the friend of God.” 

The reason that there is no toledot for “the generations of Abraham” has to do with his son, Isaac, who followed Abraham. Isaac was such a spiritual failure and embarrassment to God, Moses refused to honor Isaac through an Abrahamic toledot, and God went along with it.

Although Isaac’s claim to fame was to submit to his own possible death, as a sacrifice at the hand of his father, Abraham, the decisions of the rest of his life were not based in making God number one in his life.

Allow me to give you just a quick preview of what is to come in Isaac’s life. In Genesis 25:23, God will instruct Isaac that when his wife gives birth to twins that the second-born child will be the given the birthright. That second-born child will be Jacob. But Isaac has a problem with that. He likes the first-born child better and does everything he can to thwart God’s will and pass the mantle of leadership over to Esau. Isaac makes not just one, but a series of decisions in his attempts to make Esau his heir. You want to know what drives Isaac’s rebellion? His decisions are based solely upon his personal, physical appetites. We will see that in the future.

One final comment about Jacob’s attempt to thwart God’s will. It’s very interesting that in Gen. 27, after Isaac’s last attempt to thwart God’s blessing on Jacob, Isaac is not heard of again until his death, eight chapters later!! 

I have spent much time with these particulars this morning to show you the flow of history and the people of history in the book of Genesis, as marked by toledots. I have done this so that you will better appreciate three general principles that will be repeated over and over again between Genesis 25 and Genesis 50.  These principles have to do with the most basic and foundational principles of life that we often give a polite nod to, when instead, we should be clinging to for dear life.

Hence, here are the three lessons that the Lord our teacher is going to drive home to our hearts, as we work through the rest of Genesis. There are many other lessons than these in these chapters, but here are three big ones.

First, the real proof of a life well-lived will be revealed in one’s faithfulness to God and in one’s character. The degree, as a believer, that you model spiritual and godly faithfulness and character over the long haul, will be the degree to which you will really live life and will be blessed by God.

Like Abraham, we all make some of the same mistakes over and over. And if we are genuinely repentant, and humble ourselves before God, God continues to work with us and in us to transform our lives. But if we are not repentant, if we are proud and arrogant, and do not make it a matter of major importance to seek after God in all things, God will put us off to the side until we are repentant and choose to make His glory our chief end. 

Hence, in the end, the real proof of what kind of life we have lived will not be our few spiritual occasions of obedience and impacts upon other lives nor will it be our specific failures, but the overall picture of our of our faithful walk with God as revealed in our character. Jacob had a very rocky beginning, as you will see, his character was anything but sterling. But by the time he finishes his course, Jacob has finished the race well. In the end, the rascal proved to be a faithful man of God, full of character.

Second, as we will see in the weeks ahead as we study both Esau’s and Isaac’s life, it seemed but a small matter, their feeling of hunger and a desire for food, and yet their decisions to choose one’s belly over God was the means of testing and the means of revealing both Isaac’s and Esau’s lack of character and faithlessness. We are tested more by daily trifles than by great crises. Many men can shine in emergencies who are not able to stand the test of faithfulness in little things. The supreme test of faithfulness/character is found in the little things.

I don’t recall where I found this quote, but someone once rightly said,

 “The tissues of the life to be We weave with colors all our own; And in the field of Destiny We reap as we have sown.”

If I want to find blessing, meaning, God’s strength and courage to face tomorrow, then I must remain faithful to pay attention to the little things, those private thoughts, those harshly-held judgments and bitternesses that ought not be allowed any place in my life, let alone to take root.

Finally, as we walk through these last 25 chapters of Genesis, you will see again and again men and women living for the present life alone, not their future with God. You will see the painful consequences and results of those who lived solely for the physical, ignoring the spiritual. You will see examples of men and women who lived for time, not eternity. But only those who put God first in their lives found an unshakeable purpose, power, perpetual peace, and progress.