Three Famines

There are three famines recorded in Genesis: one during the life of Abraham, one during the life of Isaac, and one during the life of Jacob. Each was integral to the unfolding purpose of God in the lives of the fathers.

In Abraham’s case, he went to Egypt to find food (Gen. 12). There is nothing in the text that says God directed him to Egypt: he just went. While in Egypt, Sarah was taken into Pharaoh’s harem and Abraham’s tendency to lie and cover his ass got everyone into trouble. When they finally went back where they belonged, the family had procured an Egyptian bondwoman named Hagar, who would be the mother of Ishmael and cause a lot of problems.

In Isaac’s time (Gen. 26), he demonstrated that he was Abraham’s offspring by lying about HIS wife Rebekah while in the land of the Philistines. (Chivalrous dudes, here.) And this after God had said, “Don’t go to Egypt, now, like your Daddy did. You stay in the land I’ve promised.” In other words, he was afraid of being killed even after God promised to keep him and bless him.

And lastly we have Jacob, who had to practically be kicked into the land of Egypt. He was unwilling to leave the promised land, choosing to send his sons there and back again to buy grain. God appeared to him at Beersheba (46:2-4) to assure him that everything was going to be fine, and that He would surely bring Jacob back to the land of promise.

Three famines, three generations, three different responses, same God working all things for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

Jacob’s hesitancy to leave the land is, I think, one example of why God loved him and disliked Esau. For all his faults, Jacob was a man with an eye to the promises of God: he believed what God said. Jacob was willing to deceive his father to receive his blessing. Jacob wanted to wrestle, to contend his way into the eternal blessing. From birth his life was marked by a struggle to become something more than what he was. He honored his parents by not fooling around with the Canaanite women. He refused to be buried in Egypt.

Esau, on the other hand, was carnally minded. He sold his birthright for a bowl of beans. He grieved his parents by marrying the daughters of Canaan and Ishmael. He had no vision, no godly passion, no eye to the future, no treasure of God’s heritage.

Jacob, the rapscallion, was precious to God because he had a heart for something more than just the here-and-now. And God wasn’t ashamed of him or of his dysfunctional fathers.

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ~ Exodus 3:6