旧约人物：成为以色列的雅各
创世记二十五章19至28节
19亚伯拉罕的儿子以撒的后代记在下面。亚伯拉罕生以撒。
20以撒娶利百加为妻的时候正四十岁。利百加是巴旦亚兰地的亚兰人彼土利的女儿，是亚兰人拉班的妹子。
21以撒因他妻子不生育，就为他祈求耶和华；耶和华应允他的祈求，他的妻子利百加就怀了孕。
22孩子们在他腹中彼此相争，他就说：若是这样，我为甚么活着呢(或作我为甚么如此呢)？他就去求问耶和华。
23耶和华对他说：两国在你腹内；两族要从你身上出来。这族必强于那族；将来大的要服事小的。
24生产的日子到了，腹中果然是双子。
25先产的身体发红，浑身有毛，如同皮衣，他们就给他起名叫以扫(就是有毛的意思)。
26随后又生了以扫的兄弟，手抓住以扫的脚跟，因此给他起名叫雅各(就是抓住的意思)。利百加生下两个儿子的时候，以撒年正六十岁。
27两个孩子渐渐长大，以扫善于打猎，常在田野；雅各为人安静，常住在帐棚里。
28以撒爱以扫，因为常吃他的野味；利百加却爱雅各。
信息分享
这也是一个家的故事。这个家庭若在今天我们会称之为「属主家庭」。 雅各有一对敬虔的祖父母：亚伯拉罕和撒拉。祖母撒拉已经去世，但祖父亚伯拉罕一直到雅各与他孪生兄长十五岁的时候才离世。
雅各的父亲以撒也是一个敬畏神的人。他的出生，本来已经是一个极大的神迹（创二十一章）。而利百加成为他的妻子，也是一个美丽而奇妙的过程，神恩手的作为在当中清晰可见。以撒和利百加结婚二十年后，神答应了他们的祷告，这对双生子在神的应许中出生。
可惜，这个家庭却不是一个快乐的家庭，它充满了妒忌和纷争。父亲以撒喜欢活泼好动的长子以扫；母亲利百加却偏爱文静的幼子雅各。家庭的纷争若是由父母的偏心而起，那么，做父母的实在是难辞其咎。
孩子们成长的期间，家里常常搬迁。做父亲的以撒虽然不完全，然而神的恩典和忍耐，始终眷顾着他的一生。
长子以扫后来娶了两个外邦女子为妻，常常令父母心烦。
尽管生长在这样的一个家庭，神最终仍引领雅各到真正的蒙福之地，并使他成为神儿子耶稣基督的先祖。
今日圣诗：约翰˙牛顿的「奇异恩典」，唱出来并为神的奇异恩典颂赞祂。
OLD TESTAMENT HEROES: Jacob who became Israel
Genesis 25:19-28
19 This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac.
20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.
21 Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?|” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said to her:
“Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”
24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Message
It is also a family story. We would call it a 'church family' today. The grandparents had been a very godly couple, Abraham and Sarah. Grandma had passed away but Grandfather Abraham was alive until the twins in today's reading were 15 years old.
The father, Isaac, too was a godly man. His own birth had been remarkable. (Genesis 21) Then his wife Rebekah had come to him in a beautiful way in which the hand of God had been clearly seen.
The twins themselves were a direct answer to prayer. Isaac and Rebekah had been married 20 years before they were born.
But it was not a happy family. There were tensions and jealousy. The father Isaac preferred the outdoors boy, Esau. The mother, Rebekah, preferred the quieter, younger twin, Jacob. Parents have only themselves to blame if tension is created by their 'playing favourites'.
As the boys grew older, the family travelled from place to place. The father wasn't always what he should have been but God's grace and patience were continually seen in his life.
The older son, Esau, married two heathen girls. That caused real heartache to his parents.
What a family! Yet out of it, God finally brought Jacob to a place of great blessing and made him an ancestor of God's own Son, Jesus Christ.
A SONG FOR TODAY: John Newton's 'Amazing Grace'. Sing a verse or two and thank God again for His amazing grace.