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Esau |
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Common sense isn’t all that common. In fact, the common thread in
many decisions is that they don’t make sense. Esau’s life was filled
with choices he must have regretted bitterly. He appears to have been a
person who found it hard to consider consequences, reacting to the need of
the moment without realizing what he was giving up to meet that need.
Trading his birthright for a bowl of stew was the clearest example of this
weakness. He also chose wives in direct opposition to his parents’
wishes. He learned the hard way.
What are you willing to trade for the things you want? Do you find yourself, at times, willing to negotiate anything for what you feel you need now? Does your family, spouse, integrity, body, or soul get included in these deals? Do you sometimes feel that the important parts of life escaped while you were grabbing for something else? If so, your initial response, like Esau’s, may be deep anger. In itself that isn’t wrong, as long as you direct the energy of that anger toward a solution and not toward yourself or others as the cause of the problem. Your greatest need is to find a focal point other than "what I need now." The only worthy focal point is God. A relationship with him will not only give an ultimate purpose to your life; it will also be a daily guideline for living. Meet him in the pages of the Bible. 1- Strengths and accomplishments
2- Weaknesses and mistakes
3- Lessons from his life
4- Vital statistics
5- Key verses "Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you will miss out on the special favor of God. Watch out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up among you, for whenever it springs up, many are corrupted by its poison. Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau. He traded his birthright as the oldest son for a single meal. And afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he wept bitter tears" (Hebrews 12:14–17). Esau’s story is told in Genesis 25—36. He is also mentioned in Malachi 1:2, 3; Romans 9:13; Hebrews 12:16, 17.
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Esau A twin son with Jacob of Isaac and Rebekah, though Esau was actually the first-born. He is described as "red, all over like a hairy garment;" with this his name corresponds, which signifies ‘hairy.’ #Ge 25:26. The first thing we read of him is the selling of his birthright to his over-reaching brother Jacob, for a mess of pottage. Concerning this he is called in the N.T. a profane person, because he valued not that which was the gift of God. He afterwards sought the blessing carefully with tears, but found no place of repentance. #Ge 25:29-34 Heb 12:16,17. Jacob, through want of faith in God, surreptitiously obtained the blessing of his father (who, contrary to God’s election, intended it for Esau), in which Isaac said that he had made Jacob Esau’s lord, and given all his brethren to be his servants. The blessing of Esau was "Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." #Ge 27:37-40. Esau hated his brother, and intended, when the days of mourning for his father were ended, to kill him. The words of Isaac were fulfilled. David put garrisons throughout all Edom (where the descendants of Esau dwelt, #Ge 36:8) and all they of Edom became his servants, #2Sa 8:14; but later on in the days of Joram, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah; and though Joram was able to punish them, yet Judah was growing weaker, and ‘Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, unto this day.’ #2Ki 8:20-22. Obadiah announces Edom’s final judgment: no remnant is restored. Esau had three wives and a numerous posterity, which increased to a powerful tribe. When he went to meet Jacob he was accompanied by four hundred men. It may be God had warned Esau, as He did Laban, not to hurt Jacob; or possibly his anger may have abated; for when they approached, "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept." They were thus happily reconciled, and at the death of Isaac his two sons buried him. #Ge 33:4 35:29. In #Mal 1:2,3 Esau is referred to as having been hated by Jehovah, whereas Jacob had been loved. This is quoted by Paul in #Ro 9:13, where God’s sovereignty is being enforced. It was foretold that the elder should serve the younger before they were born, and before they could have done either good or bad: this was God’s sovereignty. But it was not foretold that God would hate Esau; it is not mentioned till the close of the Old Testament, after Esau in his descendants had displayed his unrelenting enmity to Israel, and Esau personally had long before that despised the gift of God in his birthright. The passage in Malachi is thought by some to refer to the nations which descended from the two brothers. Hairy, Rebekah’s first-born twin son #Ge 25:25 The name of Edom, "red," was also given to him from his conduct in connection with the red lentil "pottage" for which he sold his birthright #Ge 25:30,31. The circumstances connected with his birth foreshadowed the enmity which afterwards subsisted between the twin brothers and the nations they founded #Ge 25:22,23,26 In process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a shepherd; while Esau, a "son of the desert," devoted himself to the perilous and toilsome life of a huntsman. On a certain occasion, on returning from the chase, urged by the cravings of hunger, Esau sold his birthright to his brother, Jacob, who thereby obtained the covenant blessing #Ge 27:28,29,36 #Heb 12:16,17 He afterwards tried to regain what he had so recklessly parted with, but was defeated in his attempts through the stealth of his brother #Ge 27:4,34,38 At the age of forty years, to the great grief of his parents, he married #Ge 26:34,35 two Canaanitish maidens, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon. When Jacob was sent away to Padan-aram, Esau tried to conciliate his parents #Ge 28:8,9 by marrying his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. This led him to cast in his lot with the Ishmaelite tribes; and driving the Horites out of Mount Seir, he settled in that region. After some thirty years’ sojourn in Padan-aram Jacob returned to Canaan, and was reconciled to Esau, who went forth to meet him #Ge 33:4 Twenty years after this, Isaac their father died, when the two brothers met, probably for the last time, beside his grave #Ge 35:29 Esau now permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy chief in the land of Edom (q.v.). Long after this, when the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, the Edomites remembered the old quarrel between the brothers, and with fierce hatred they warred against Israel. |