R U Woke? Part 10
DEUTERONOMY
Sermon notes by Jim Jester
June 12, 2022
SCRIPTURE READING: Deuteronomy 7:7-8
THE THEME
The theme of the book of Deuteronomy, racial identity, begins in chapter two:
Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you. (Deut. 2:4)
Esau was the twin brother of Jacob who became Israel. This account is found in Genesis 25:21-34. Esau married an Ishmaelite woman whose descendants had come from Abraham and Hagar. Hagar was the Egyptian handmaiden of Sarah, wife of Abraham, who was given to Abraham to conceive a child because of Sarah’s old age (q.v., Gen. 16). When Sarah finally had a son, Isaac, Hagar and her son, Ishmael, were forced to leave. It was from the Ishmaelites that Esau first took a wife. It is clear then, why the Lord referred to “your brothers, the children of Esau,” for all had come from Abraham, though some were tarnished by the Egyptian blood of Hagar.