Inheritances

I have been reading Genesis since the start of the year, as part of my discipline to read through the Bible every year. It’s always so interesting for me to read about the people in the Bible. They’re all extremely flawed, yet God used them to fulfil His plans. And what I have seen about these flaws is how easily they are passed down through the generations.

Take Abraham for example, the father of the Jews. He had a habit of lying and deceiving. In Genesis 12:10-20 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2012%3A10-20&version=NIV). Abraham tells Sarai to lie to the Egyptians about the nature of their relationship. Later, when he finds himself in a similar situation, he repeats the same lie that Sarai is his sister (Gen.20:1-17 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2020&version=NIV)

Later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Issac married Rebekah and when there was a famine in the land, Isaac went to the land of the Philistines for help. When the people there asked about Rebekah, Issac repeated the same lie his father had told decades earlier—“She is my sister” (Gen. 26:1-11 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2026%3A1-11&version=NIV).

When Isaac was near death, he sought to bless his oldest son, Esau. Knowing this, Rebekah, his mother, devised a deceptive plan where Jacob would impersonate his brother in order to get his father’s blessing. Jacob willingly went along with it and carried out the deception (Gen. 27:1-41 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2027%3A1-41&version=NIV).

When Jacob was old, he sent Joseph to check on his ten brothers who were caring for their sheep some distance away. They had grown jealous of him and when they saw him, they plotted to kill him. They changed their minds and instead sold him into slavery and concocted a story that he was killed by a wild animal to explain his absence to Jacob (Gen.  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2037&version=NIV).

The habit of lying and deception was passed down to several generations. It became a family trait. When we think of inheritances, we usually think of land, money, and material possessions handed down from our grandparents and parents. But the inheritance of character traits is also passed down, both the good and the bad.

My mother was a very negative thinker. I used to joke that she could find a fault in every silver lining. She passed along her negative thinking patterns to me, and I have been trying to modify that trait for most of my life. I doubt she intended to do this, as I also doubt Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. However, God’s intention with the creation of humans was to have his divine qualities passed along generation after generation. With the Fall, it became equally possible to pass along less noble and often sinful traits as well.

Children are very observant and, as is often said, they are like sponges when they are very young. They absorb what they see and hear, for good or ill. This is why it is important for parents and grandparents to be mindful of their character flaws and seek the Lord’s help in correcting them. We want to pass along our good qualities, but let our bad qualities end with us instead of passing them along to another generation.

© Jim Musser 2025 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.