Genesis
25:11 ¶ 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.
Genesis
25:19 ¶ 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.
Genesis
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.
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