Don’t throw away your elected birthright for earthly things; John 15:16Title: Don’t throw away your elected birthright for earthly things; John 15:16.
Rom 9:12 it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger."
Though the sons of Esau continually harassed the sons of Jacob [Israel] for approximately 1000 years, this promise will be fulfilled during the Millennium, Isa 11:14.
Isa 11:14 Together they will plunder the sons of the east; They will possess Edom and Moab; And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
Rom 9:13 Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Both of the twins were born with Adamic natures, born in sin, born spiritually dead, children of wrath, personal sinners and disobedient by nature.
Both are accountable for bad decisions, but one believed in the spiritual heritage of Israel and one found it worthless. God saw this in His foreknowledge and so He elected one and not the other.
Esau’s initial rejection led to a race of people who were very antagonistic to God’s plan and very antagonistic towards God’s people. That’s why it took time for God to come to a very harsh word concerning Esau.
Nowhere in Genesis does it say that God hated Esau, but God does say this approximately one thousand years later.
Mal 1:3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation, and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."
By this time it had been made manifest to all the world that the heart of Esau’s descendents, the kingdom of Edom, was filled with nothing but unrelenting hatred towards God’s chosen people Israel.
God’s anthropathic hatred of Esau was seeded with him and then flowered in his progeny.
This began with Esau who hated his birthright as the first born. He can reject his birthright and still become born again and saved, but it seems clear that he never sought salvation through faith in Christ.
Gen 25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.
Gen 25:28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Gen 25:29 And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;
Gen 25:30 and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow [gulp as in an animal like voraciousness] of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom.
Gen 25:31 But Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."
Jacob doesn’t have to scheme. God has promised him the birthright, but not even Jacob here has trust. He was his mother’s favorite and as such it is certain that she told him of the prophecy that the older would serve the younger. Abraham, his grandfather, survived the first 18 years of his life and from Abraham he must have heard often about the faithfulness of the God of Abraham, as did his twin brother Esau. But though he fails here, yet he is a believer of Abraham’s faithful God and so he is chosen. I’m sure Esau heard his grandfather Abraham’s stories and thought them to be just that, stories. Yet heed this history…
We must quietly wait for God and not try to outrun Him! We must quietly wait for the unfolding of His purposes and allow His blessings to fall into our laps.
Luke 6:38 "Give [attitude of laying down your life], and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
Gen 25:32 And Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?"
The birthright goes far beyond the wealth of the family and the headship of the family.
Birthright: Head of family, priest of family, communicator of divine secrets, link in the line of the Messiah, power and blessing from God, passing on of the Messianic hope, heir to Abrahamic covenant, spiritual aristocracy, resurrection to eternal Israel.
He sees it only as being the head of a family that he cares little about and at this time is not wealthy. After Abraham had blessed Isaac with his tremendous wealth, but there was a severe famine in the land, so much so that Isaac was going to move to Egypt, but the Lord told him to remain Gen 26:1-5. However, it is clear that the famine cost him much of his wealth, God promised blessing and prosperity, but to Esau, a promise from God is meaningless.
This is why Esau doesn’t care for the birthright. There is no power or wealth, only promises of it that he’s been hearing from his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac; promises from a God that he doesn’t believe in.
So, he’s not saying he is about to die, but that when he dies the birthright is over, and since there isn’t anything in it for him, what’s its use? So again in: Gen 25:32 And Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?"
Not believing that the birthright is a spiritual heritage that goes beyond the grave into the Millennial reign of Christ as well as all eternity, Esau despises it for its lack of wealth.
He doesn’t believe that anything associated with the birthright will exist past the grave, so who cares about it, and to him it was as much in value as a bowl of lentil stew with some bread to dunk.
Gen 25:33 And Jacob said, "First swear to me"; so he swore to him [which makes it legal], and sold his birthright to Jacob.
This is an example of instant self-gratification, which is all Esau is interested in. Esau wants the lentil stew now and lacks self-control.
Esau’s eyes are on the desire of the moment and not on the future ramifications of that momentarily fulfilled desire.
It may seem small at the time, but just like two railroad tracks diverge at such a small degree, after many miles they very far apart. This is a constant temptation to the believer. Keep short accounts with God and rebound quickly after failure.
God’s desire is for your lasting happiness and not the very temporary pleasure that results from sin.
This temporary desire for instant self-gratification originates from the sin nature.
There is only one way to overcome the OSN.
Gal 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Phil 3:18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
Phil 3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
Gen 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised [to treat as worthless] his birthright.
Later, Esau is going to wail and cry for this birthright, but for the power and wealth and not for the spiritual legacy of Israel, which is the true meaning of it.
The Church-age believer has been given the greatest spiritual heritage from God, Col 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Further behavior by Esau showed his contempt for the spiritual and racial heritage of Abraham and Isaac.
Gen 26:34 And when Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
Gen 26:35 and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
And now we see his bitterness over missing out on his father’s wealth.
Gen 27:30 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob [by deceit], and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
Gen 27:31 Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me."
Gen 27:32 And Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your first-born [now its important], Esau."
Gen 27:33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."
Gen 27:34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
Why is Esau now desirous of the birthright? Isaac is very wealthy.
1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.
Gen 26:12 Now Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him,
Gen 26:13 and the man became rich [if the famine hadn’t hurt him badly and he was already rich, how could he become rich], and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy;
Gen 26:14 for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household [fighting men], so that the Philistines envied him.
Go back to: Gen 27:35 And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and has taken away your blessing."
Gen 27:36 Then he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"
Gen 27:37 But Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"
Gen 27:38 And Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
Gen 27:39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.
Gen 27:40 "And by your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck."
Gen 27:41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
The depraved of mind who love money and power will eventually resort to some type of violence when they don’t get it.
Esau will eventually lose his desire to kill Jacob, but Esau’s people, the Edomites, will harass and kill Israelites for 1000 years in their unrelenting hatred of Israel.
Esau’s eulogy is in Heb 12: Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
Heb 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
Root of bitterness refers to mental attitude sins sprung up by recalling past sins of self or others that have been blotted out by Christ.
This can occur from a guilt complex brought on by your failure to apply rebound correctly or a lack of forgiveness for someone else’s sin against you or someone you love. If this happens you have come short of the grace of God, which is God’s unshakable policy.
Heb 12:16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
Heb 12:17 For you know that even afterwards [after Gen 25:33], when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
“repentance” – meta,noia[meta = change; noia = mind] – to change ones mind. In comparing this to Gen 27:34 it seems more likely that the change of mind that he sought was Isaac’s and not his own.
Gen 27:34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
In other words, change your mind father!
Heb 11:20 By faith [by means of doctrine in the soul] Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come [fulfillment of Abrahamic covenant]. |