Esau Forgave Jacob

Today we are talking about forgiveness!

Whether it’s forgiving someone else or asking for forgiveness, we all have needed to forgive and be forgiven.

I can’t count how many times I’ve experienced this in my life. From being mean to my siblings, to saying hurtful things to others, I needed forgiveness. On the other hand, there have been times where others have hurt me, and I’ve had to forgive them. I wish I had a specific example, but there’s so many times of this in my life that it would take forever to share them all.

In today’s Bible lesson, we are going to look at two brothers Jacob and Esau, and how Jacob needed forgiveness.

Our story begins with Isaac (the son of Abraham) and his wife Rebekah.

They were praying for children, and God answered their prayer. He gave her twin boys. From the very beginning, the two twins struggled with each other, so the Lord told Rebekah:

Genesis 25:23 CSB

23 And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will come from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

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Rebekah eventually gave birth to the twins, and the Bible gives us very descriptive details

Esau was covered in hair! That’s right, he was a hairy man. And his hair was red. The Bible says he was “covered with hair like a fur coat”.

And,

Genesis 25:27–28 (CSB)

27 When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

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Now, there was one day when hunger got the best of Esau… let me read to you what happened.

Genesis 25:29–34 CSB

29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted. 30 He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom. 31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. 34 Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

Later on, when Isaac’s eyesight was no longer good, he called Esau to come to him. He asked him to go out and hunt and prepare food for him.

There was somebody close by listening to that conversation… it was Rebekah. Who was her favorite child? Jacob, that’s right.

She devised a plan to trick Isaac into blessing Jacob with the birthright instead of Esau.

She put some of Esau’s clothes on Jacob and put the skins of young goats on Jacob’s hands and on the smooth part of his neck so Isaac wouldn’t notice that it wasn’t Esau.

Isaac could tell something was a little off… it wasn't the same voice as Esau, but everything else was right.

Later after Isaac gave in and blessed Jacob with the birthright, Esau came to his father and found out. The Bible tells us how Esau felt about this… it says:

Genesis 27:41 CSB

41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Because of what Esau said, Rebekah sent Jacob away to his uncle Laban until Esau’s anger cooled down.

Fast forward a bit, Jacob gets married and has many kids, and eventually leaves his uncle Laban to return back home.

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Genesis 32:3–8 NLT

3 Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom. 4 He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob. Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, 5 and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’ ” 6 After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!” 7 Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups. 8 He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”

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Then Jacob prayed to God:

Genesis 32:9–12 NLT

9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ 10 I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! 11 O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. 12 But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’ ”

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Jacob then stayed where he was for the night, and selected gifts to give to Esau:

-200 female goats

-20 male goats

-200 female sheep

-20 rams

-30 female camels with their young

-40 cows

-10 bulls

-20 female donkeys

-and 10 male donkeys.

That’s a lot of gifts!

Now, lets look and see Esau’s response to seeing his brother:

Genesis 33:3–4 NLT

3 Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother, he bowed to the ground seven times before him. 4 Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

This was the reunion of two brothers who had been through a lot together, and this is a picture of forgiveness. Esau didn’t kill Jacob or harm his family, he hugged him. They wept together.

This story is a beautiful picture of forgiveness (gospel):

Esau could’ve gotten revenge and had his army of 400 men kill Jacob and all his family. However, God promised to treat him kindly, and that He would multiply Jacob’s descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.

Just like Esau forgave Jacob, God has forgiven us through Jesus Christ. God forgave us, even when we were still sinners. We hadn’t done anything good to make God forgive us. The Bible tells us this:

Romans 5:8 CSB

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.