Jacob and Esau

Malachi 1:2-3 ““I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.””

Issac has married Rebekah, and they have lived together for 20 without giving birth to a single child. Issac remembers the promise that God had made to his father Abraham, so He seeks the Lord on account of that promise. The promise cannot be fulfilled if he does not have children. God seeing that Issac remembered the covenant, and acknowledged God as the One who keeps it granted children to Issac and Rebekah.

Rebekah became pregnant, and the pregnancy was not one of comfort. Her baby kicked and knocked and made her question why she was even alive to experience this if it was going to be so bad. She asked God what was going on with her baby, and He revealed that she was not eating for 2, but that she was eating for 3. She was carrying twins, and those twins would be at war with one another. They would be at war with one another, but the older would serve the younger which was something that did not happen in these times. It is still rare for it to happen nowadays.

Esau was the first to be born. He was a very hairy baby, and he grew into a large, hairy man. He worked the fields and was a hunter. Kind of a man’s man I guess you could say, but he was foolish and wicked.

Jacob was born second. He was holding onto the heal of Esau when he was born. He came second, but he would be first. Jacob liked to be a home body. Someone who did not like to sweat. He would lay inside all day with his mother.

Issac loved Esau, Rebekah loved Jacob, but the Lord looked at the boys hearts. This is why God said that the first will serve the second. God blesses the first born, the first to open the womb. Esau despised his birthright. He sold it to Jacob for a bowl of soup and some bread. He probably thought that it would not stick because who is really going to give up their birthright for some soup? What father would allow that to stand? God did. You should not even play with the thought of giving up what God has rightfully given to you, and you should also keep your word just as God does. Though it was a silly trade, the transaction was agreed upon by two men. The deed stuck in God’s eyes. Also, at the end of the scriptures we see that Esau took for his wives two women who were not of the bloodline of Abraham. Genesis 24:2-4 “And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”” Abraham sought a wife for Issac so that he would not fall into pagan worship and defile his family and the covenant that he had made with God. Esau was to be the same way in marrying a Hebrew, but he is good at despising things. He took for himself pagan wives which caused great heartache and trouble within the family.

Jacob might have seemed like a sissy, but he was more righteous. Esau might have been bigger, stronger, and cooler, but he was wicked and rejected by God.

A famine fell in the land, and Issac had to move just as his father had done years before. They were headed for Egypt, but the Lord told him to settle in an area that He would show him because God had intended to give Issac this land. He settled in Gerar which is in what is now south central Israel. Abimelech is the king of the area, and when they settle Issac told everyone that Rebekah was his sister just as his father did, and for the same reason. They lived like this for a while until Abimelech looked out a window and saw the supposed brother and sister getting a little too friendly. The king ran downstairs and out to Issac where he prompted him to tell him what was going on. Issac explain his reason behind the lie, and Abimelech was frustrated because they could have slept with Rebekah and made a mess of a marriage. This likely would not have had an effect on a pagan. To sleep with another man’s wife was probably not too far from acceptable, but God had stepped in on the covenants behalf and increased the anger and frustration of Abimelech. He did this to keep Rebekah from being defiled which in turn would ruin God’s chosen seed. So the king put a death notice on anyone who touched them.

Issac lived in the land, multiplied in the land, and became very powerful in the land. So powerful that they were envious. They became angry, they filled his wells with dirt so that he would not have water, and they drove him away. Everywhere Issac went he dug a well and tried to settle, but people kept coming to his well and fighting over the land. Water was very precious, and if you found it in the dry land, you fought over it just about. So Issac dug wells, got into arguments, and moved on until he dug a well that no one fought over. This is where they settled, and they named the well Rehoboth which means broad space, or room, because God had led them to a place that they could live without intruding on others. They lived, and they grew mighty, so mighty that Abimelech to notice and he made a pact with them because he knew that God favored Issac, and Abimelech did not want God against him. Everything was nice, everyone was enjoying life, and this Esau took his foreign wives.

God looks at what is on the inside of men. He looks on your intentions. He knows the desires of your heart. This is why His blessings were forfeited from Esau and landed on Jacob. You can look great on the outside, everyone can love you, and you can seem to have everything going your way, and still be a wretch. If your heart is not right, if your motives are not pure, if your intentions are not for the Lord but are rather for yourself then you are wicked, and God sees it. You may fool many people, but you will never fool God, and He is the one who holds everything in His hands. I would rather please God and know that we are in good standings than I would please a few people around me and have His anger kindled against me.

I would encourage you tonight that if you are doing anything, involved in anything, desiring for anything that is not righteous, you are doing things that you know are for the wrong reasons and God would disapprove, I would encourage you to put an end to these things, and return to Him. He is powerful, and His punishment will come, but He is also full of love and mercy for those who give up their sins, and come back to Him.