Rebekah's ruse to get Jacob safely away is a complaint
regarding the Hittite women, like the one Esau has already married. (Gen
26.34) Neither Isaac nor Rebekah could
stand this woman, they are both said to have had their lives made bitter by
this wife. Isaac has apparently resigned
himself to Jacob's blessedness and prays that he will receive the blessing the
Lord had given to Abraham but sends him away, back to Rebekah's home, to get a wife. The verses we skip here tell that Esau heard
this admonition not to marry a Canaanite woman and chose to go and get another for
a second wife to spite his parents. As he
goes, Jacob is sleeping rough, out in the open, vulnerable, and in his dream
the Lord appears to him and reveals that this is His place, Jacob is safe. Not only is he safe here, the Lord answers
the prayer of Isaac and renews the covenant with Jacob, also promising
protection until he returns to this place.
Jacob's response is to set up a pillar to worship the Lord and make vows
to Him should he return to this place. With Jacob, everything is contingent.
What an ironic statement to begin this passage! We are Abraham's children and we have never
been enslaved to anyone? Their national
identity is based on God's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Jesus' argument runs logically, if you were,
as you claim to be, Abraham's children, you would do the works he did, you
would be like him. Instead, based on
your works, what I see, you are of your father, the devil. I, however, prove my ancestry from the Father
based on what the works I do. The fact
that they have not believed in Him is proof that they are not like Abraham who
believed without seeing for twenty-five years.
They have seen and yet they do not believe. They are slaves to sin and that slavery has
blinded them. He is speaking to
Pharisees, those who are seemingly devoted to the Law and to righteousness, how
can Jesus say such things? He knows
their hearts and the plots of these men against Him. He knows how this will end.
Just because Christians owe no allegiance to the state does
not mean they are to resist the authority of the state. They are called to be good citizens in every
respect. The authority of the state is
established by God, the sovereignty of God extends to all things. Paul's argument is that the only thing
punished under Roman law is bad conduct and therefore it is not to be resisted.
Roman law, however, does not define good
conduct, that is the law of love for God and one another. We could argue that Paul presumes good
authority but he couldn't possibly mean that, he lived under Nero's rule and
Nero was a wicked man who persecuted both the church and the Jews. The sinfulness Paul speaks of: orgies and
drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and
jealousy, were part of Roman society, allowable in the kingdom. Paul says we are to be unlike the culture in
these ways, they are works of darkness but they are not things commanded in
Roman law, simply tolerated. Our hope is
more secure than Jacob's, we are to have no contingencies for obedience and
belief. Are we God's children or are we
not? Our works shall prove the truth.
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