11
¶ And it came to pass after the death of
Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.
12 Now these are the generations of
Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto
Abraham: 13 And these are the names of
the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the
firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and
these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes
according to their nations. 17 And these
are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years:
and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. 18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that
is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of
all his brethren.
19 ¶
And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat
Isaac: 20 And Isaac was forty years old
when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram,
the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21 And
Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was
intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within
her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the
LORD. 23 And the LORD said unto her, Two
nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy
bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder
shall serve the younger. 24 And when her
days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over
like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his
hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was
threescore years old when she bare them. 27
And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field;
and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of
his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
This passage of Scripture starts off with an account
of Ishmael’s death and of his progeny who grew to great numbers and occupied
what has come to be known as Arabia. Then, an account is given of the birth of
Esau and Jacob. Esau was his father’s favorite while Jacob was his mother’s
favorite. Esau was an outdoors kind of guy who liked to hunt and Jacob hung
around the house or tent. He was probably a big help to his mother and a “momma’s
boy.” As we will see though, he was not a wimp or a “simpering milquetoast.” The elder shall serve the younger is a
prophecy of Esau playing second fiddle to Jacob. He will be willing to give up
his birthright for a bowl of stew and Isaac will be tricked into giving his
blessing to Jacob.
Esau will lend his name to Edom which eventually will
be known as Idumea.
Ge
36:1 Now these are the generations of
Esau, who is Edom…8 Thus dwelt Esau in
mount Seir: Esau is Edom.
Ezekiel
35:15 As thou didst rejoice at the
inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto
thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and
they shall know that I am the LORD.
The kingdom of Edom no longer exists but its geography
lies within the southern reaches of the country known as Jordan. Some
commentators believe that it is the location of the wilderness where the
survivors of the Beast of Revelation’s final fight against the Jews will flee
in Revelation 12. There lies the famous rock city of Petra. Esau’s legacy then
runs throughout history and Jacob and Esau will be united in a manner of
speaking in the end, if this is correct.
Why is Jacob favored over Esau? Esau was a carnal man
who was willing to give up his birthright to appease his appetite and lost his
blessing. Jacob was clever and crafty, which we think of as not being very good
character traits especially since he used them to obtain a blessing from his
father by deceit and treachery. Why did God choose Jacob over Esau? The history
of the carnal man of uncontrolled appetites is a history of war and rebellion.
It is a history of corruption and injustice. Esau represents what is wrong with
charismatic leaders who cause young women to think things they should not and
cause young men to deliver up their common sense to follow blindly. He is a man
of the earth, a natural man.
1Corinthians
2:14 But the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man is lusty and everything he sees exists
to serve him; either his appetites, his sexual lust, or his need to dominate
others for fear of being dominated himself. He is praised in our literature and
media and millions will follow him. The trouble is that he would trade God’s
inheritance for another meal, approval and validation from others, and a chance
to have what he wants at the moment. He despises what he calls, “pie-in-the-sky
religion,” and concerns himself only with satisfying his immediate needs in the
here and now. He could not envision eternity for all he was worth. He cannot
even perceive of the idea of God usually. He is too busy putting food in his
belly, perhaps a beer, glass of wine, or liquor to his lips, or pursuing the
latest tech gadget or get rich scheme to even consider the fate of his soul.
The question you should ask yourself, young man, is, are you an Esau?
Hebrews
12:14 Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the
grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby
many be defiled; 16 Lest there be any
fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. 17 For ye know how that
afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he
found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
On the other hand, Jacob, though clever and
resourceful, deceitful even, who will wrestle with God Himself, can be molded
into God’s man. Full of flaws himself, character flaws, fearful and uncertain
at times but obedient as often as he can be, in the end, God’s choice of him to
further God’s work of reconciliation, of bringing mankind to God, bears fruit
in Joseph and his brethren, the forebears of the Hebrew “race” from whence the
Redeemer of mankind comes and from whom God’s ministry of reconciliation flows.
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