Bible Study: Genesis 25
Written Oct 4th, 2007 by Josh Rives | Email This
A good Bible trivia question from Genesis 25 is who was Abraham’s second wife? You will see Abraham’s last recorded act of faithfulness to God when he sends his other sons away from Isaac. This is because he wanted to avoid any conflict over who was to receive the inheritance. God told Abraham that Isaac was to be the recipient and Abraham wanted to ensure that would happen.
After Abraham’s full life has ended he is “gathered to his people.” This is a very interesting study for you. Generally when a faithful man dies in the OT, the Scriptures say that he was “gathered to his people.” There is a theory that faithful men (and women) of the Old Testament, did not go straight to heaven, but were gathered in a waiting place called Sheol. Christ came and declared His victory over sin after His death and they ascended into heaven. Jesus tells a parable in Luke 16:19-31 that gives credence to this idea (though it is only a parable). This is only a theory, though not totally unreasonable.
Isaac and his family are the focus of the second half of this chapter and you are about to witness an extremely dysfunctional family. Verse 28 is obvious foreshadowing of the impending drama. You also see more obviously here a theme in the book of Genesis. That theme is that God is going to choose who He wants to choose. Esau should have been the one to receive the blessing from God, but instead God chooses Jacob. Remember that God explicitly told them that Jacob was to be the one to receive the blessing since this will be important later.
The last story seems absolutely ridiculous. Even though Jacob took advantage of the situation, Esau is the one whom the author blames. He must have been incredibly short-sighted to give up his future for something to eat. Rarely does the Bible blatantly criticize someone’s actions, usually it just shows the consequences. Here the author makes a point to say what Esau did was wrong.
So just because the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is in fact a parable, it somehow lacks credence and is only a theory? I believe that is an accurate description of what happens after a person dies. They go to torment or paradise to await the Judgment.
Where does it say in the Bible that one goes directly to heaven or hell when they die?
Only the Angels, Jesus, and God are in Heaven right now.
In the second half of Matthew 25, Jesus talks about the Judgment.
Souls are sent to heaven or hell on Judgment Day.
AD,
I would tend to agree with you on this, but the other side of the argument points to verses like Luke 23:43. Of course then you have the question, if you die do you go outside of time?
When Jesus talks about a parable. He says listen to this parable. The Rich man and Lazarus. Jesus made no statement that I could find that it was a parable.
Thats definitely something to think about. We’ll find out when our day comes. We just have to make sure we die in Lord - Rev. 14:13
Let us not forget the Omnipresence of God. God’s timeline is past, present, future all at once. Apostle Paul states “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” When we die. Our timeline ceases. It is an instantaneous movement to the resurrection of the souls. Humans are limited to how WE define time in a linear motion. We often forget God is beyond that.