Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

“1 So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4 May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” 5 Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; 9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.” Genesis 28:1-9.

We see the consequences.

Esau moved away from Canaan, the land of promise.  Verses 6 to 9.

Later, we see the descendants of Esau move entirely away from the worship of the true God to worship other gods.

Even many of the descendants of Israel took foreign wives and also moved away from the worship of the true God to worship other gods.

“… the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them (foreign wives), nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. …” 1 Kings 11:2.

“The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. ” Judges 3:5-7.

This command is not just in the Old Testament applicable only to the nation of Israel.  The command has been expressed in the New Testament in the following terms with the following reason for us today. 

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-15.

Conclusion

When the Law was handed down to Moses at Mount Sinai in the form of two stone tablets, “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;  who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”  Exodus 34:6-7.

Esau’s sins not only affected him, but Esau’s sins affected his descendants.  Likewise, our sins will not only affect us, but our sins will also affect our descendants.

May Genesis Chapter 36 not be viewed as a boring list of names.  But rather, may Genesis Chapter 36 cause us to remember prior Scripture and other Scripture to motivate us to seek Christian spouses and to stay close to the Lord (and even get closer to the Lord).  It is easy but dangerous to drift away.  Our sins not only affect us, but our sins also affect our descendants.