Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
(Ex 3:6)
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the awesome Yahweh, the sacred Being and the everlasting God. He is the LORD, the Maker and Owner of all things. The Sovereign Almighty God who chooses men, as He likes, for His purposes. He does everything according to the good counsel of His will and cannot be counselled or questioned. It will be a great exercise to focus on Him even for a moment but this write up is not about Him. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the patriarchs of the Jews and are great men and it could have been wonderful to do a biographical study of them but, again, this write-up is not about them.
This write up focuses briefly on a man who should have been in that record but is lost and eternally lost. Naturally we should be talking of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Esau but God will not allow Esau’s name to come up in that list because He will not identify with Esau. Of course He is not the God of Esau and even now young man/lady who is your god? If you will not identify with Him, He will not identify with you. We will like to look at Esau the much we can so as to use his story as a warning unto us unto whom the end of the ages has come. Esau speaks volumes and you need to hear him and take heed if you will not allow the enemy to change your destiny and if you will not die of unavailing remorse and regrets. Some have lived and died with regrets that they ended up reading the course they were not supposed to read, or missed the course they were supposed to read because of carelessness. Some have lived in regret because they did not marry the person they should have for one reason or the other. Many live in regret of one decision or the other that they took sometimes in their lives. These are all important and dangerous but may not cause your name to be erased from where it should be in history or cause you to regret eternally. However some decisions and steps may cause eternal regret, like Esau’s.
Now, we need to learn from Esau’s testimony as we look at some salient points that robbed him of his correct place in history and obliterated his name completely from God’s hall of fame. He is only lifted up as a negative example to teach all who want to end up well not to go the way he went. Please pray the Holy spirit to speak to you deeply as you come along and take note of the very quiet and salient issues that will wreck your life and put you out of what you should have become.
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
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.
(Gen 25:24-26).
PEDIGREE
Esau was a historical person and not a fairy. He lived on earth. He was born about 1836 B.C in the middle East where Israel is today. He was born to Isaac and Rebecca and his grandfather was Abraham. You have your own birthday and place of birth and your parents like him. So, Esau was born with godly parents who carried a divine ‘covenant’ and ‘promise’ and whose grandfather was a friend of God. This is already a great mercy of God that situated him for greatness.
Esau did not die in the womb (a still birth). Even though his pregnancy was a little troublesome he was finally born. He was a twin and his twin brother’s name was Jacob. They were not identical twins and were infact very different right from the womb. Fortunately for Esau, he came out first and so became the first born with all the rights of the first born. They had began fighting and struggling in the womb and as they came out Esau came first followed by Jacob grabbing his heel. Jacob was trying to pull him back and go before him but he could not prevail. When they came out Esau was red and his body was like he wore a hairy garment while Jacob was smooth, as if Esau took the hair that belonged to both of them. So Esau came out prepared for life on earth and could already survive any adverse weather. This was God’s grace. He was born and physically endowed to succeed.
So being a twin you cannot divorce the story of Esau from Jacob and you cannot stop comparing them. But from the physical and natural point of view, Esau was born with grace and had all the advantages over him. And later we will see that his father, Isaac loved him more than Jacob, his twin brother. So, right from the very beginning Esau was born with every advantage and grace and should have become a champion. Everything seemed to be going for him. He was in line to become the carrier of Abraham’s covenant in his own generation. If Esau failed, it was not because God hated him and made him disformed in the womb or put him behind his brother, etc. Even people born with physical challenges are not hated of God and can still become great. For Esau however, he was born with every grace and advantage (even over Jacob who was born a supplanter) and that is why his end is very sad.
You, young person, must thank God that you are born and born again and that He has given you every physical thing you need to do well in life. If you have Christian parents you must see it as God’s grace. All that they have given you and done for you so far must not be taken for granted. God is giving you all these to give you a good and a head start so that you will succeed in life. Appreciate Him and do not let His mercies and grace be in vain.
SOME SALIENT ISSUES:
Despite all the grace that God gave Esau so that he would not fail and be displaced and replaced from his placement, Esau still failed of the grace of God. God wants to use him to warn us because He does not want us to fail as he failed.
And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
(Gen 25:27)
Growth
Both Esau and Jacob grew. This is so crucial because without growing you will not become anything. All the men and women that became anything grew both inside and outside. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men. Growth is the name of the ball game of life. All-rounded growth is important because where you reach is where you grow to. But one critical question is the direction of your growth. Esau became a cunning hunter. So he had become agile, energetic and a hunter. Traditionally, hunters are men associated with some sorcery. They are usually strong men and full of life but their energy is usually channeled into the negative realm. Ethically hunters set traps and hunt down lives and destroy them. So Esau would usually leave home very early in the morning to go and see whether his traps had caught anything or/and set new ones. He spent much of his time outside ranging here and there pursuing lives.
Friend, are you growing to become a hunter. Hunting after girls and destroying them? Are you a cunning hunter in exam malpractices, stealing, violence, etc? Into what are your God-given strengths being channeled? Are you already playing pools and such like. When I see some of your posts on facebook and your language I just see a hunter after the lives of innocent young people that you are already corrupting and trying to destroy. Are you a heartless and wicked bully who enjoy bullying your juniors and wounding them and enjoying seeing them suffer. One wonders what Esau was hunting and what he was getting when his father had much cattle bequeathed to him by his grandfather, Abraham. How can you be setting traps and hunting for reptiles while your heavenly Father has everything you need at home? Who was Esau’s role model that lured him into hunting. Maybe he heard about Nimrod and wanted to follow in the footsteps of that wicked man. Excuse me, who is your role model and in whose footsteps are you following? When I see your haircut and what you have done to your hair and your dressing and entire outlook and how you are always looking like a man from the bush I see a hunter in the making. May the LORD turn your eyes to Jesus today because it is Him you should grow to become like, instead of Esau and his like.
Vagabond
Esau is also described as a man of the fields, unlike Jacob who dwelt in tents. So Esau was a man of the open country since he was a hunter. He never learnt how to sit down and learn. He was never a quiet person that had a quiet time and developed intimacy with God. Esau was not one to be at home and relate with other family members and so learn from his parents and others. Esau never attended the family altar. So he was independent, a boisterous ranger who never learnt to be under authority and so be discipled. So he was uncut, untried and untrimmed. So, how could God have committed anything into the hand of such a man? Not even a man who is concerned about the purpose of God and the future will consider such for any serious trust.
Friend, tent dwelling is important if God will ever commit anything serious into your hands. Hear the testimony of God concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Heb 11: 9: – By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise
Tent is a recognition that we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all tent dwellers and they inherited the Divine promises. Tent signifies that one is content to stay at home or in school, etc, and learn. It signifies to take the yoke and learn under authority rather than to be independent and as free as air and give expression to one’s lusts unrestrained. It is in the tent that a man learns to know God and relate well with other men. From the testimony of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s, dwelling in tents, I see that only tent dwellers who have learnt to be quiet and submissive and in the family can be heirs. No wonder Esau lost the inheritance. Take note of this because you cannot inherit anything with Christ when you are not at home to learn but always on the road and in the dens, independent and doing what you like and never being taught or corrected. This is a salient point why Esau missed the Divine promises and it will also make you lose out. It is in the tent that God prepares all the men He will identify with in the future.
Divine and Human Favour
And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
(Gen 25:28-34)
While his father Isaac loved Esau because of the bush meat he brought him from his hunting, Rebekah loved Jacob because of the revelation she had from God concerning the boys. Esau seemed favoured since he bought the father’s favour with the bribe of bush meat. Actually that seemed an advantage to him but he did not reckon with the Divine verdict. Maybe it is this love from his father that made him reckless and presumptuous and a man of impunity.
Friend, take note that the first person to seek His favour is the Almighty God in Heaven, the heavenly Father. If your relationship with Him is not good, even the favour you get from your earthly parents and others will avail you nothing at last. We see you using bribery and eye service to gain the favour of your leaders and others that you think will bring you promotion, but let it be known to you that genuine promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West but from the LORD. Since that is the case it is His favour that you must seek first by living close to Him and walking with Him. He cannot be bribed nor deceived like a human being and he does not have an unbridled appetite for bush meat or anything like Isaac and some other men. Once you gain His approval, the Isaacs of this world (parents, teachers, leaders etc), cannot stop His purposes for you from coming to pass.
It is a great deception to seek man’s approval and favour over God’s. Jesus grew in favour with God before man and that is the correct order. Stop trying to impress men and seek their favour but seek God’s favour first.
Loss of Birthright
Then one faithful day Jacob was cooking some pottage and red stew. Esau came back from his hunting quite tired and hungry. He asked his brother to give him some of the red pottage because he was famished. Jacob asked him to first sell his birthright as first born to him before he would give him the food. Then Esau said he was about to die and asked what good the birthright was to him. Jacob asked him to swear (like sign the contract) and Esau did without the least hesitation and so sold his birthright to his junior brother. So Jacob gave him some bread and pottage and he ate it and drank something and got up and left. Note the conclusion: thus Esau despised his birthright – he showed that he did not regard the birthright and did not care about it.
You need to follow this story carefully to know the kind of man Esau was and why God could not trust Him with anything important and valuable. This is a man who could not endure hunger for a moment. Someone that could not wait to get a meal prepared. How could he say he would die if he did not eat that pottage. How can a full blooded, able bodied hunter, coming from hunting die because he did not eat a meal in a day. Can you now see a man of appetite who lived for the moment; a carefree man who did not give thought to his words and actions? Worse still a man that equates his birthright with pottage. How much does a plate of pottage cost that it would be exchanged for birthright – the right of birth?
As first born, Esau had the double portion of his father’s inheritance by right and the covenant promise on Abraham was to pass on to him. He despised all that for a mess of pottage. What a thing! How could the Sovereign God commit Himself to such a man. So you see why he missed it all and lost his place and destiny.
Friend, again, do not think that God respects persons. When you do not value your birthright in Him then you lose all. Being born of God, like every birth has rights. It makes you an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. When you went to sleep with a lecturer to pass exams or for promotion it means that birthright has not much value to you. There are several things you are saying and doing that shows that you do not appreciate your birthright. Have you already traded in your birthright for some temporary and momentary pleasure? This is the time to cry out because it will be too late later.
CONCLUSION
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
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.
(Heb 12:16-17).
This is the summary of Esau’s life. A life with so much advantages and so naturally endowed but who lost out. Today he has become a teaching example for all believers to look to and be warned.
Take note that heaven describes Esau as a fornicator – an immoral person. By the time he was 40, he had already married 2 Canaanite women. A man that had no self control and gave vent to his unbridled lusts without restraint. Of course Esau was never at home and so could never have learnt how to deal with the human nature. Again he is described as a profane person. A profane person is a godless person who does not think of God or spiritual things. Such a person is sacrilegious, irreverent and irreligious. That is why as the eldest son who could have inherited all from his father, he sold all for a single meal of pottage and went away not considering the gravity of what he had done. Later when the matter dawned on him he sought the promise earnestly and with much tears but he could find no way to change all he had done. He had lost his birthright eternally and so lost the inheritance and the covenant of Abraham and got his name erased permanently from where it would have been.
Even if God hated him, it was for good reasons. How could the holy and righteous God love such a person, who does not regard Him, and commit Himself to him? It was because of His foreknowledge that He spoke in advance that He would not commit anything tangible to him though He had endowed him with much physically.
Friend listen See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. (Heb 12:16 NIV). if you become like Esau what happened to him will happen to you. Go, again, through the salient points that nailed Esau so as to retrace your steps from them if you are already on his path. Even if you see that some of those issues have caught up with you this is the time to return to the LORD in repentance. It may be too late later. Nobody should take your inheritance because it is your birthright. You must value it above all else and trade it for nothing. Nobody must take your place and replace you. Your placement is too crucial to be missed because that is why you were born and born-again. Salient points may be silent at the moment and seem not to raise any alarm but they will cause ruin. Time is not static and today is the day of salvation. You must not take the issues God is raising with you now lightly if you do not want to regret tomorrow and eternally. You must not die an Esau – a man blessed so much of God but who squandered grace and is displaced from his placement forever. Rather than follow Esau, determine to follow Jesus until the end so that you will end up well. Rise into prayers and may His grace never depart from you.