June 5. 2016 - Jacob and Esau

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.


Last week we saw the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah.  Well,

the story didn’t stop there.  Isaac and Rebekah went on to have children, a pair of twins named Jacob and Esau.  Now Esau, the firstborn, was a tough and hairy man that liked to hunt. Jacob, on the other hand, was more of a farmer

and very smooth skinned.  For twins, these two didn’t have much in common. 

Earlier this year, we talked about how Esau had sold his birthright, the larger inheritance given to the firstborn son, to his younger brother Esau for a bowl of lentil stew.  This was very foolish of Esau because the

birthright is one of the two most important things a firstborn has.  The other is the blessing that the father passes down to his firstborn.  At least Esau still had that coming….right?

As Isaac got older, he began to lose his sight.  Eventually

he went completely blind.  He knew that it may not be long before it was his time to die so he decided it was time to give Esau the blessing.  He called Esau to him and told him, “Go, hunting, Esau.  Kill an animal and bring it back here and cook it just the way I like it.”  So Esau hurried off to hunt.  What he didn’t know was that his mother, Rebekah, was listening and she

knew that Esau was about to receive the blessing. 

Rebekah thought that the blessing should belong to Jacob just like the birthright so she came up with a plan.  She told Jacob, “I will cook up a goat just the way your father

likes it and I want you to take it to him and pretend to be Esau back from hunting.  Then your father will bless you instead of Esau.”  Jacob wasn’t so sure this plan would work.  After all, his voice was different that his brother’s. Also, what if Isaac touched him? 

He knows Esau is hairy and Jacob isn’t so that would give him away.  Also, Isaac was able to identify them by their smell!  When he told this to his mother, she said, “Wear this fur so Isaac will think you are hairy like Esau, and wear some of his clothes so that you smell like him. This way, your father will think you are Esau.”

So Jacob did what his mother told him to.  Isaac was completely fooled and gave the blessing to Jacob by mistake.  This was the blessing…

May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.

This means that the promise that God gave Abraham and Isaac was to be given now to Jacob instead of Esau.  Also, Jacob was now in charge of the family, including his brother Esau!  When Esau learned of this when he got home, he was broken-

hearted and furious.  He hated Jacob so much for stealing his blessing that their parents, Isaac and Rebekah, were afraid that Esau may eventually kill Jacob.  They figured the best thing to do was to send Jacob away to protect him from Esau.  It was many years before they saw each other again.

Over the years, Jacob did very well.  He got married, had children, and had collected great wealth and possessions; but this wasn’t enough.  Jacob eventually wanted to go

home to his family so he sent two of his servants to see Esau who was now living in Edom south of Canaan.  When they returned, the news wasn’t good.  Esau was coming and he was bringing four hundred men with him!  Jacob was very afraid.  He decided that it would be smart to split his group so at least half of them would be safe if Esau attacked.  He also thought that it would help if he sent Esau a nice gift.  So Jacob sent Esau…

200 female goats

20 male goats

200 sheep

20 rams

30 female camels & their young

40 cows

10 bulls

20 female donkeys

10 male donkeys.

That night, Jacob sent everyone ahead and stayed by

himself.  When he was alone, he was visited by an angel!  Instead of what you would expect from an angel, this one attacked Jacob.  They wrestled all night long but the angel could not overcome Jacob so he touched his hip and injured him so badly that Jacob limped.  As the morning drew near, the angel told Jacob to let him go.  Jacob refused.  “Not until you bless me!” Jacob told the angel.  So the angel blessed Jacob and gave him a new name.  Instead of his name being Jacob, which means trickster or supplanter (or heal grabber), his name was now to be Israel which meant to wrestle or contend with God. 

The next day, Jacob and Esau finally met again after years of feuding.  Jacob did not know if Esau would attack him or forgive him.  As Jacob approached Esau, he bowed down seven times.  Amazingly, Esau ran to Jacob/Israel and hugged him tight!  All had been forgiven and the long feud was finally over. 

Esau had a lot to be angry at Jacob for.  Yet, he was able to forgive him.  There is a lesson we can learn from each brother.  From Esau, we can learn to forgive even the worst things that people do to us.  From Jacob, we can learn that, when we wrong someone, we need to do whatever we can to try to make it right.  Nobody owes us forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a gift.