Your Children Are Watching You!

On the issue of multiple wives:
Something I am noticing as being consistent with the instances where a man has more than one wife, is that the first wife tends to be of greater importance and the bond between the husband and first wife is much stronger. Abraham had 3 wives that are mentioned in the Bible: Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah. Obviously, Sarah was of more importance to Abraham because it only says he was buried with her. And then when Esau takes two wives at the end of chapter 26 it is looked upon poorly by his parents. It even says that they (the wives) made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. This could be because they were both Hittite's. Either way, I find it interesting that even though men during this time did have second wives, it wasn't without it's difficulties. Obviously, Hagar and Sarah had a very rough relationship. I think God is trying to use these instances to show us how unhealthy it is on a marriage and to further emphasis that His desire is that a man only have one wife.

Rebekah also is mentioned as being barren. Isaac prayed to the Lord regarding this issue with his wife, and God answered Isaac's prayer with twins - Esau and Jacob (Side note...the name Jacob means 'he deceives,' which you will understand more about later.)! More proof that God is the one in control of all aspects of life! If you study all that has to be just right at the moment conception takes place, you will find that it is a miracle any babies are even born! Proof that God is the orchestrator of even this! Each and every time a life is created at conception, it is on purpose! God has a purpose for that life and we need to understand how sacred and special each tiny little life is!

We need to be living lives that are an example to our children. Isaac and Rebekah settle near Gerar (you will remember this from chapter 20, because Abraham did the exact same thing). Rebekah was beautiful, so, Isaac told Rebekah to say she was Isaac's sister. Unlike Isaac's parents, this was not even a half truth. Rebekah was Isaac's cousin. Of course, King Abimelech finds out the truth (not like he hasn't had this one pulled on him before) and the King declared that if anyone touches either Isaac or Rebekah they will be put to death. I am sure that Isaac knew that this was exactly what his father had his mother do when they traveled. But you would think Isaac would know better. Either way, this proves that our children are watching us and we need to be sure that we are living lives that inspire our children to do what is right in God's eyes. Has everything that you have done today been commendable? If your children were to repeat what you did today would you be embarrassed? Yes, kids say some pretty hilarious things sometimes, but that is not what i am talking about. Morally speaking, are we inspiring our children to do what is right? They will remember what we do and they will follow our example. We need to be cautious and always on guard that if they were to do what we do or say what we say that God would be honored in all.