Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Esau The Son Who Couldn’t Win │ Msg 414

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Esau The Son Who Couldn’t Win │ Msg 414 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Let's bow for prayer together. Will you join me? Our Father,
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Speaker 1: we acknowledge that you are our God and your Son
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Speaker 1: is our Savior and your word is our solitary, reliable
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Speaker 1: source of truth. In a world of many voices, many messages,
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Speaker 1: many convincing words, Give us a simple appetite for the
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Speaker 1: things that come from you and a satisfaction that in
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Speaker 1: coming to you and hearing from you, we have found
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Speaker 1: the best there is. As we undertake this series, may
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Speaker 1: we see within the truth of your book, this ancient
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Speaker 1: Old Testament, truths to live by, stories to remember, lives
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Speaker 1: to give us warning and others to give us hope
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Speaker 1: that we might find a pattern that unravels some of
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Speaker 1: the mysteries of life. Thank you in advance for the
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Speaker 1: things to be learned and the conviction upon which to
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Speaker 1: respond and to act and ultimately the changes that will
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Speaker 1: occur because we have risked again exposing ourselves to the
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Speaker 1: truth of your written word. In the name of Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: we pray. Amen. We never outgrow our love for a story,
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Speaker 1: do we? There is something compelling, something magnetic, something altogether
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Speaker 1: unique about a story. When Jesus was faced on this
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Speaker 1: earth during his ministry with opportunities to communicate truth, he
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Speaker 1: often chose a story And in some cases, he chose
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Speaker 1: stories rather than any other method, sometimes to veil the truth,
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Speaker 1: other times to explain it and illustrate it. But stories
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Speaker 1: seem to be one of his favorite kinds of communication styles.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes the stories we hear are true, and the reality
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Speaker 1: of them strikes us, impacts us. We'll read a story
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Speaker 1: in the newspaper or in a magazine, and journalists, by
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Speaker 1: the way, are forever on a search for a story,
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Speaker 1: a story that has intrigue and excitement and perhaps struggle
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Speaker 1: and heartache, because they have learned over the years that
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Speaker 1: there's something about a story that keeps people reading. Clarence McCartney,
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Speaker 1: years ago at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, came
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Speaker 1: to be known for his ability to tell great stories.
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Speaker 1: I remember as a little boy, by the way, not
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Speaker 1: having heard Dr. McCartney, but having heard a number of preachers,
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Speaker 1: I remember recalling years later a number of the stories
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Speaker 1: that were told. I couldn't remember the sermon, and I
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Speaker 1: often couldn't remember even the scriptures, but I would not forget,
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Speaker 1: and to this day I can still remember some of
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Speaker 1: the stories. He was a master. storytelling. In one of
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Speaker 1: his books, and I think I own all of McCartney's books,
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Speaker 1: he writes this about stories. The mind of man delights
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Speaker 1: in a stirring scene or spectacle, whether it is a
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Speaker 1: battlefield of temptation or an imaginary scene of triumph and
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Speaker 1: glory in the heavenly places. Let the preacher remember this
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Speaker 1: and throw open as wide as he can the golden
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Speaker 1: gates of of imagination. Napoleon said, men of imagination rule
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Speaker 1: the world. The preacher of imagination is the prince of
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Speaker 1: the pulpit. And he was indeed that. There is an
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Speaker 1: amazing thing about capturing a truth in story form. So
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Speaker 1: let's say a little bit about stories since this is
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Speaker 1: a series on great stories out of the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: Let me say some things, and I mean just a
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Speaker 1: little bit about stories themselves and what makes them interesting.
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Speaker 1: What is a story? Well, a story is a narrative.
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Speaker 1: It is an account of incidents that usually revolves around
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Speaker 1: people and usually includes a plot. The plot in the
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Speaker 1: story is the plan. And it is that plan as
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Speaker 1: it unfolds that holds our attention. Great storytellers have the
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Speaker 1: ability to hold the listener in suspense. Great story writers
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Speaker 1: do not tell you all of it at the beginning,
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Speaker 1: but they leave you waiting, interested, wondering, sometimes saddened, sometimes
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Speaker 1: excited about how the plot will unfold. Now, what makes
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Speaker 1: a story interesting? Well, stories form in our minds certain settings.
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Speaker 1: They allow our imaginations to soar, and we're able to
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Speaker 1: leave the present humdrum and rather familiar world in which
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Speaker 1: we live, and we're able to move into the realm
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Speaker 1: of the unknown. We can see ourselves in the story
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Speaker 1: that we're reading or we're hearing. We can draw lessons
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Speaker 1: from those stories. The best kind of stories have within
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Speaker 1: the plot these elements, surprise, struggle, romance, courage, loss, gain.
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Speaker 1: And frequently, the stories leave us with a sense of encouragement.
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Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember the lyrics of one
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Speaker 1: of the old songs out of the Second World War
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Speaker 1: made popular in the film Casablanca. But the lyrics of
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Speaker 1: this song illustrate for me the genius of a story.
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Speaker 1: It's still the same old story. A fight for love
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Speaker 1: and glory. A case of do or die. The world
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Speaker 1: will always welcome lovers. as time goes by. There's something
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Speaker 1: timeless about great stories and I have found tucked away
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Speaker 1: in the folds of the Old Testament the reason the
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Speaker 1: truths are remembered is that they are placed before us
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Speaker 1: unlike the New Testament they're placed before us in story form.
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Speaker 1: But before we look into the Old Testament section I
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Speaker 1: want to look at in this in this study, turn
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Speaker 1: first to Romans 15. And I'm looking at a single
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Speaker 1: verse in the 15th chapter of Romans. It's the fourth verse.
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Speaker 1: We've looked at it before, and so just the reading
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Speaker 1: of it is all that's necessary. Romans 15, 4. For
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Speaker 1: whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction,
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Speaker 1: that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures... we
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Speaker 1: might have hope. You may not know this, but that
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Speaker 1: verse has reference specifically to the Old Testament. Whatever was
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Speaker 1: written in earlier times, Paul wrote this verse before any
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Speaker 1: of the New Testament had begun to be compiled, certainly
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Speaker 1: before it had begun to be distributed. So he's referring
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Speaker 1: to the scrolls of the Old Testament written in earlier times,
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Speaker 1: and he states that through the perseverance and the encouragement,
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Speaker 1: I suppose he has in mind, through the perseverance engaged
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Speaker 1: in studying the scriptures and through the encouragement from those pursuits,
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Speaker 1: we find ourselves full of hope. That's my main goal
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Speaker 1: in this series, is to help build a reservoir of
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Speaker 1: hope in your life from the stories that we uncover
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Speaker 1: out of the Old Testament. So without further delay, turn
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Speaker 1: back to Genesis chapter 25. And we're going to pull
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Speaker 1: a story from this first book of the Bible, a
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Speaker 1: story that may be familiar to some of you, but
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Speaker 1: before we are through, in a little bit of time,
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Speaker 1: you may discover that you really didn't know a lot
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Speaker 1: about it, or as much about it as you thought.
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Speaker 1: I found that true in my own life. Now, please
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Speaker 1: understand as we begin this series that there is not
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Speaker 1: one life we're going to study in the Old Testament
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Speaker 1: that was supernatural. Some of the lives we will uncover
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Speaker 1: have supernatural power. They're given that power by God. Some
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Speaker 1: of the people who evidence that power are even able
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Speaker 1: to work miracles. Not the one we're looking at in
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Speaker 1: this study, but some of them we will look at
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Speaker 1: in days to come. But all of these people we
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Speaker 1: are looking at are folks just like us. In the
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Speaker 1: words of James, Elijah was a man of like passions
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Speaker 1: as we are. If you will do this, it will
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Speaker 1: help remove all halos from above the heads of all
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Speaker 1: the people in the Old Testament. Take away all of
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Speaker 1: the aura, not all of the respect, but all of
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Speaker 1: the aura that keeps you distant from these people. Otherwise
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Speaker 1: you will hold them at such a distance you will
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Speaker 1: not see yourself in their lives. These are stories of
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Speaker 1: people just like you and me. They went through similar
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Speaker 1: situations we go through. They lived in a different era.
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Speaker 1: Times were perhaps more primitive, rugged, not nearly as comfortable,
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Speaker 1: certainly not as modern. But these are men and women
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Speaker 1: of like passion. They are ordinary, if I may, garden variety,
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Speaker 1: human individuals who knew nothing of their future and only
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Speaker 1: at times knew something of their present. They must have
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Speaker 1: wondered at times what life was all about. And now
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Speaker 1: that we've had years to look back on them, we
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Speaker 1: can unravel many of the mysteries that they lived with
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Speaker 1: during their lifetime. Now, I want us to study In
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Speaker 1: this particular story, the life of a man named Esau.
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Speaker 1: I'm calling him the son who couldn't win. And I
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Speaker 1: have a feeling, in all honesty, that some of you
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Speaker 1: hearing this story, some of you for the first time
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Speaker 1: hearing this story, will have little difficulty identifying with some
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Speaker 1: of the struggles Esau had. My Bible is open to
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Speaker 1: Genesis 25, verse 19, which is one of the earlier
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Speaker 1: references to the genealogy of Esau. Let's say a word
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Speaker 1: to begin with about his birth and childhood. These are
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Speaker 1: the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham
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Speaker 1: became the father of Isaac. And Isaac was 40 years
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Speaker 1: old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. Verse 21,
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Speaker 1: Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife
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Speaker 1: because she was barren. And the Lord answered him and Rebecca,
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Speaker 1: his wife, conceived. Before I go any further, let me
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Speaker 1: put to rest a misunderstanding. The immediate thought after you
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Speaker 1: read verses 20 and 21 of Genesis 25 is that
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Speaker 1: shortly after Isaac prayed, God caused her to conceive. Wrong.
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Speaker 1: You remember reading that he was 40 years old when
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Speaker 1: they married? Look at verse 26, the last line. Isaac
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Speaker 1: was 60 years old when she gave birth. Huh. We
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Speaker 1: get a little impatient in our prayer because we have
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Speaker 1: to wait a week or two, a month or two.
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Speaker 1: How about 20 years? And how about being 40 years old,
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Speaker 1: realizing that you don't have forever, wanting to have a family,
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Speaker 1: asking God to bring that to pass, and then it's
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Speaker 1: not until 20 years later God says yes. But we're
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Speaker 1: getting ahead of ourselves. Let's go back to verse 22.
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Speaker 1: The children struggled together within Rebekah. And she said, if
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Speaker 1: it is so, then why am I this way? So
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Speaker 1: she went to inquire of the Lord. This was before
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Speaker 1: there were sonograms. This was before there were obstetricians, gynecologists,
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Speaker 1: people with those high-tech pieces of equipment. She had no
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Speaker 1: idea she had twins within her. All she knew was
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Speaker 1: that there was trouble within her. There were wrestlings within
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Speaker 1: her womb. There are mysteries known only to a mother
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Speaker 1: that are known to no one else. And she felt
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Speaker 1: within her changes and conflicts and struggles going on within her.
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Speaker 1: She had no idea that she had the makings of
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Speaker 1: a war within her own body. And so she inquired
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Speaker 1: of the Lord, and in those days the Lord spoke audibly.
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Speaker 1: to those who inquired of him. And he said to her,
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Speaker 1: you don't simply have two children. You have the roots
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Speaker 1: of two nations in your womb. Two people shall be
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Speaker 1: separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than
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Speaker 1: the other. Now note this. And the older shall serve
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Speaker 1: the younger. She discovered from God's voice that not only
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Speaker 1: was she to have a baby, she was to have
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Speaker 1: two children. And that the conflict within her womb was
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Speaker 1: by the design of God. Never doubt that from the
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Speaker 1: time of conception onward, you have life within your womb.
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Speaker 1: Never let anyone try to convince you otherwise. and that
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Speaker 1: God's design and purpose are both at work from the
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Speaker 1: conception on in the lives of your child or in
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Speaker 1: your children. She's told these will not be simply two children,
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Speaker 1: they will be nations and the younger will, as a
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Speaker 1: matter of fact, be the most dominant. The older will
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Speaker 1: serve the younger. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold,
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Speaker 1: There were twins in her womb, and the first came
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Speaker 1: forth red, all over like a hairy garment. And they
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Speaker 1: named him Esau. So he's the older. And afterward, his
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Speaker 1: brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel.
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Speaker 1: So his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was 60
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Speaker 1: years old when she gave birth to them. I don't
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Speaker 1: want to look at this scene just theologically. I want
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Speaker 1: to look at it humanly as well. Can you imagine
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Speaker 1: being 60 years of age and the father of twins?
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Speaker 1: Some people pray for twins. Usually they have not talked
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Speaker 1: to people who have twins before they pray for twins.
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Speaker 1: It was always a great pleasure to me that we
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Speaker 1: had our children one at a time. Some people do
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Speaker 1: very well with twins, and I'm always amazed. Yesterday morning,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia and I decided we would take all five of
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Speaker 1: our grandchildren to breakfast. Both of our married kids, when
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Speaker 1: we called them and told them what we wanted to
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Speaker 1: do on the evening before, both of them said, are
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Speaker 1: you sure you know what you're saying? We said, we do.
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Speaker 1: We are. So we picked them up, we put them
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Speaker 1: in the car, and we drove to the local pancake house,
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Speaker 1: and we began the process of unloading. And going into
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Speaker 1: the restaurant, all seven of us, and I will never
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Speaker 1: forget the face of the gentleman sitting at the table
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Speaker 1: next to us, who had looked forward to a lovely,
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Speaker 1: quiet breakfast with his wife, When we asked for three
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Speaker 1: booster chairs and two high chairs, he really wasn't sure
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Speaker 1: he had chosen the right restaurant. And we sat down,
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Speaker 1: and we had quite a breakfast together. I think Cynthia
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Speaker 1: ate four bites of food in between serving the five kids,
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Speaker 1: but that's five. Just two. Isaac, however, was 60 years
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Speaker 1: old when Rebecca gave birth to those boys. We're not
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Speaker 1: told much about the childhood. We're told when the boys
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Speaker 1: grew up, Esau was different from his younger brother Jacob.
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Speaker 1: Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field.
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Speaker 1: Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Nothing wrong
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Speaker 1: with that. You will discover shortly after their birth, if
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Speaker 1: you have had several children, how different they are one
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Speaker 1: from another. All five of our grandchildren are very different.
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Speaker 1: One you place in the high chair and he's happy
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Speaker 1: to sit there. And if you leave him for an hour,
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Speaker 1: all he needs is crackers to crunch up and stuff
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Speaker 1: to drop on the floor and he's content. The others
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Speaker 1: are the prelude to a war just beginning to happen.
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Speaker 1: So you have to keep them busy with other things.
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Speaker 1: Some of these are from the very same sets of parents,
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Speaker 1: but they're very different. Esau was different from Jacob. Nothing
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Speaker 1: wrong with that. That's the way God designs them. But
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Speaker 1: something is wrong in the next verse. And humanly speaking,
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Speaker 1: it is the seed of great difficulty. Isaac loved Esau,
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Speaker 1: but Rebekah loved Jacob. Isaac loved Esau because he had
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Speaker 1: a taste for game. I suppose Isaac was the outdoors type.
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Speaker 1: He liked it that his boy liked to hunt. He
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Speaker 1: liked it the way his boy conducted himself and handled himself.
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Speaker 1: He was a man. He was rugged. Rebecca liked it
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Speaker 1: that Jacob stayed near the tent. Maybe he liked to cook.
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Speaker 1: He stayed around the house, we would say. He didn't
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Speaker 1: like the field. Nothing wrong with the boys being different,
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Speaker 1: but there is something wrong with this parental favoritism, which,
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Speaker 1: by the way, haunts Esau's steps for the balance of
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Speaker 1: his life. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in
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Speaker 1: from the field and he was famished. And Esau said
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Speaker 1: to Jacob, please, let me have a swallow of that
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Speaker 1: red stuff there, for I am famished. Jacob said, first
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Speaker 1: sell me your birthright. And Esau said, behold, I'm about
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Speaker 1: to die. So of what use then is the birthright
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Speaker 1: to me? Jacob said, first swear to me, so he
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Speaker 1: swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob
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Speaker 1: gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and
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Speaker 1: drank and rose, went on his way. The chapter concludes
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Speaker 1: with a brief commentary on the mentality of this older
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Speaker 1: son Esau despised. birthright. Doesn't mean much to English-speaking people,
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Speaker 1: really means very little to Americans. Birthrights are no longer significant,
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Speaker 1: certainly not in Gentile homes. James Hastings, one of the
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Speaker 1: fine biographers of Scripture, makes several statements about the value
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Speaker 1: of a birthright and I want to refer to his
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Speaker 1: writings so you will see what Esau forfeited. Just listen.
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Speaker 1: To the birthright belonged preeminence over the other branches of
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Speaker 1: the family. Second, to the birthright appertained a double portion
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Speaker 1: of the paternal inheritance. Third, to the birthright was attached
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Speaker 1: the land of Canaan with all its sacred distinctions. Fourth,
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Speaker 1: To the birthright was given the promise of being the
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Speaker 1: ancestor of the Messiah, the firstborn among many brethren, the
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Speaker 1: Savior in whom all families of the earth were to
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Speaker 1: be blessed. And fifth, to the birthright was added the
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Speaker 1: honor of receiving first from the mouth of the Father
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Speaker 1: a peculiar benediction which proceeding from the spirit of prophecy
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Speaker 1: was never pronounced in vain. Such were the prospects of Esau.
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Speaker 1: But in a moment of hunger, in a hurried moment
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Speaker 1: of hunger where he says, I'm famished, he trades his
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Speaker 1: birthright and all of those blessings for a bowl of soup.
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Speaker 1: It is the problem of instant gratification. And when we
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Speaker 1: come to the end of this message, I'll say more
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Speaker 1: about that. But he bases an enormous amount of this
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Speaker 1: decision on that instant moment of finding himself satisfied with
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Speaker 1: a bowl of soup. He releases all of those blessings
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Speaker 1: to his brother. Jacob, by the way, has been pictured
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Speaker 1: by some as a man who deceived his brother out
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Speaker 1: of his birthright. I don't find any deception right here. Well,
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Speaker 1: later I find deception, but this is out in the open.
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Speaker 1: You want a bowl of my soup? Give me your birthright.
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Speaker 1: Jacob was bright, but he wasn't here deceptive. I'll give
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Speaker 1: you the soup if you give me your birthright. He
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Speaker 1: didn't hide the fact that he was an out-and-out trade.
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Speaker 1: The point I want to make is that Esau is
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Speaker 1: of such a mind as to despise something that is
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Speaker 1: significant and heavy for the satisfaction of his physical needs.
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Speaker 1: Jacob takes advantage of it. I think Jacob was a
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Speaker 1: better student of Esau than Esau was of Jacob. It
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Speaker 1: tells us something of his perspective. Spiritual priorities weren't nearly
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Speaker 1: as important as physical comforts. Intangibles meant little to Esau.
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Speaker 1: He saw only the need of the moment, and that
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Speaker 1: was to fill his stomach. Perhaps that's why Hebrews 12,
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Speaker 1: 16 refers to Esau as a profane man. By the way,
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Speaker 1: let's don't just go through the story. Let's let the
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Speaker 1: story go through us. You may have a boy like Esau,
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Speaker 1: or you may have a boy like Jacob. Pay close
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Speaker 1: attention to what there is to learn from this interesting
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Speaker 1: conflict between the two sons. What we are witnessing in
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Speaker 1: the end of chapter 25 is the early seeds of
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Speaker 1: a carnal nature and a lack of parental guidance and confrontation.
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Speaker 1: I'm convinced the parents didn't even know about the trade.
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Speaker 1: By now, Isaac must be 75, It says in verse 27,
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Speaker 1: when the boys grew up, giving them the benefit of
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Speaker 1: the doubt, let's place Esau at age 15. If you
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Speaker 1: make him 20, then Isaac is now 80. And age
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Speaker 1: has a way of removing a father from the immediacy
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Speaker 1: of his son's needs. One of the problems you have
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Speaker 1: to deal with if you are an older father with
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Speaker 1: younger boys or younger girls. Isaac becomes increasingly less involved
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Speaker 1: in his children's lives. He sort of watches life pass,
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Speaker 1: but he doesn't get involved with their needs. Chapter 26,
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Speaker 1: verse 34, is our next stop-off. When Esau was 40
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Speaker 1: years old, does that have a familiar ring? That's when
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Speaker 1: Isaac married. When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith,
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Speaker 1: the daughter of Beri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter
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Speaker 1: of Elon the Hittite, two daughters of Heth. And they
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Speaker 1: brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah. We have noted that
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Speaker 1: Isaac was 40 when he married. I wonder, and it's
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Speaker 1: just passing imagination. It is not inspired. It is just
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Speaker 1: a thought, just a suggestion. I wonder if by now
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Speaker 1: Esau realized he was out of the loop of parental affection,
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Speaker 1: or at least his mother's affection. I wonder if he
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Speaker 1: thought there might be something that could be gained by
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Speaker 1: seeking a wife at this age, something that would get
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Speaker 1: him back in the loop of favor and blessings. And
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Speaker 1: so at age 40, like his father, he marries. But
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Speaker 1: he marries Canaanite-ish women, as they're later called. Daughters of Heth.
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Speaker 1: He loses again. And as is customary in those homes,
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Speaker 1: he brings those wives with him back under the roof
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Speaker 1: of his family. And they become a heartache to both
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Speaker 1: his father and his mother. You cannot win. By the way,
28:31
Speaker 1: if you are out of the loop of blessing and favor,
28:35
Speaker 1: a marriage... will not help. Finding a wife or finding
28:42
Speaker 1: a husband will not automatically solve the conflict you have
28:47
Speaker 1: with your parents. Certainly, finding wives like Esau did, did
28:52
Speaker 1: not do it. And one more word of a practical note.
28:59
Speaker 1: Only those whose family has been hurt by an unhappy
29:04
Speaker 1: marriage can understand fully the meaning of verse 35, that
29:08
Speaker 1: they brought grief to Isaac and Rebecca. Haven't you seen it?
29:14
Speaker 1: Or have you experienced it? Where your son or your
29:18
Speaker 1: daughter makes an unwise choice and, as it were, brings
29:23
Speaker 1: home someone out of your favor? There's a grief connected
29:29
Speaker 1: with that that isn't healed. Now, chapter 27 is clearly
29:37
Speaker 1: the most significant chapter in the story of the boy
29:40
Speaker 1: or the son who couldn't win. I want to take
29:44
Speaker 1: our time through it, not too much, but enough for
29:47
Speaker 1: you to see four scenes as they unfold. Much of
29:52
Speaker 1: this is familiar, I understand, but the first scene is
29:56
Speaker 1: Isaac and Esau. The older boy. It came about when
30:03
Speaker 1: Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to
30:07
Speaker 1: see that he called his older son Esau and said
30:11
Speaker 1: to him, my son. And Esau said to the father,
30:15
Speaker 1: here am I. Here I am. Isaac said, behold, now
30:18
Speaker 1: I am old and I do not know the day
30:21
Speaker 1: of my death. Now then, please take your gear, your quiver,
30:25
Speaker 1: your bow and go out to the field and hunt
30:27
Speaker 1: game for me. And prepare a savory dish for me
30:32
Speaker 1: such as I love and bring it to me that
30:34
Speaker 1: I may eat so that my soul may bless you
30:37
Speaker 1: before I die. See, the father knows nothing of the
30:39
Speaker 1: exchange of the birthright. He's looking forward to passing the
30:43
Speaker 1: blessing on to his older son, whom he favors. So
30:47
Speaker 1: he says to the boy, let's eat this meal together
30:51
Speaker 1: that I might be strengthened and I might pass along
30:53
Speaker 1: the blessing. Rebecca was listening. Now, this is an interesting
30:59
Speaker 1: study also, this woman, or I should say the wife
31:02
Speaker 1: of Isaac should speak of her with a little more respect.
31:05
Speaker 1: Isaac's wife, Rebekah, is listening while Isaac spoke to his
31:09
Speaker 1: son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to
31:12
Speaker 1: hunt for game to bring home, Rebekah said to her
31:16
Speaker 1: son Jacob. Did you catch something that I read? While
31:21
Speaker 1: Isaac spoke to his son Esau, she later spoke to
31:25
Speaker 1: her son Jacob. Both of them are both their sons.
31:33
Speaker 1: But the favoritism by now is so strong, one is
31:36
Speaker 1: referred to as one son, the other one is referred
31:40
Speaker 1: to as the other's son. What we have in this
31:44
Speaker 1: next section, 5 through 17, scene 2, is Rebekah and Jacob.
31:50
Speaker 1: Now you will see a conniving spirit at work. Rebekah
31:56
Speaker 1: said to her son, behold, I heard your father speak
31:58
Speaker 1: to your brother Esau saying, bring me some game and
32:01
Speaker 1: prepare a savory dish for me that I may eat
32:03
Speaker 1: and bless you in the presence of the Lord before
32:05
Speaker 1: my death. Now, therefore, my son, listen to me as
32:08
Speaker 1: I command you. Go now to the flock and bring
32:11
Speaker 1: me two choice kids from there, that is two goats,
32:14
Speaker 1: that I may prepare them as a savory dish for
32:16
Speaker 1: your father such as he loves. Then you shall bring
32:19
Speaker 1: it to your father that he may eat so he
32:21
Speaker 1: may bless you before his death. Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, Behold, Esau,
32:26
Speaker 1: my brother, is a hairy man, and I am a
32:29
Speaker 1: smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me. Then I
32:33
Speaker 1: shall be as a deceiver in his sight, and I
32:36
Speaker 1: shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing. Ah,
32:40
Speaker 1: she's got that all thought through. His mother said to him,
32:43
Speaker 1: your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice.
32:46
Speaker 1: Go and get them for me. So he went and
32:49
Speaker 1: got them and brought them to his mother, and his
32:51
Speaker 1: mother made savory food such as his father loved Rebecca
32:55
Speaker 1: took the best garments of Esau, her elder son, which
32:58
Speaker 1: were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob,
33:01
Speaker 1: her younger son. She even dressed her boy in his
33:04
Speaker 1: twin brother's clothing. She put the skins of the kids
33:09
Speaker 1: on his hands. Can you picture that? And on the
33:12
Speaker 1: smooth part of his neck. What a strange plan. She
33:17
Speaker 1: put the skins of the kids on his hands and
33:19
Speaker 1: on his neck. She also gave the savory food and
33:22
Speaker 1: the bread which she had made to her son Jacob.
33:27
Speaker 1: Scene 3, verses 18 to 29. Jacob and Isaac, his father.
33:34
Speaker 1: Then he came to his father and said, My father.
33:37
Speaker 1: And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son?
33:41
Speaker 1: You see, he's almost blind. Jacob said to his father,
33:45
Speaker 1: I am Esau, your firstborn. Now you see Jacob as
33:51
Speaker 1: a true deceiver. I have done as you told me.
33:54
Speaker 1: Get up, please, and sit and eat of my game
33:57
Speaker 1: that you may bless me. Isaac said to his son,
34:00
Speaker 1: How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?
34:03
Speaker 1: He said, Because the Lord your God caused it to
34:06
Speaker 1: happen to me.
34:08
Speaker 2: Wow.
34:09
Speaker 1: When you have begun to deceive and you take it
34:12
Speaker 1: far enough, it won't be long before you can even
34:15
Speaker 1: enter the name of the Lord in your game plan
34:19
Speaker 1: without hesitation. Isaac said to Jacob, please come close that
34:24
Speaker 1: I may feel you, my son, whether you are really
34:27
Speaker 1: my son Esau or not. Jacob came close to Isaac,
34:30
Speaker 1: his father, and he felt him and said, the voice
34:33
Speaker 1: is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
34:36
Speaker 1: hands of Esau. He did not recognize him because his
34:41
Speaker 1: hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he
34:45
Speaker 1: blessed him and he said, Are you really my son Esau?
34:51
Speaker 1: He said, I am. Just a moment before we proceed.
35:00
Speaker 1: Jacob learned to deceive from his mother. He picked it
35:07
Speaker 1: up from her. To be sure, he has a nature
35:10
Speaker 1: of deception, which you see as far back as the
35:13
Speaker 1: action in the womb. When he is coming out of
35:16
Speaker 1: the womb, he's grasping the heel of the of the
35:18
Speaker 1: brother Esau, the older brother. But he's learned the plot
35:22
Speaker 1: from his mother. He's learned the script from his mother.
35:28
Speaker 1: And he's not hesitating to carry it the full nine
35:32
Speaker 1: yards because he's been coached by his mother. Never underestimate
35:39
Speaker 1: the impact of your character on your children. So he said,
35:47
Speaker 1: bring it to me and I will eat of my
35:49
Speaker 1: son's games that I may bless you. And he brought
35:51
Speaker 1: it to him and he ate and brought him wine
35:52
Speaker 1: and he drank. And his father Isaac said to him,
35:55
Speaker 1: please come close and kiss me, my son. So he
35:59
Speaker 1: came close and he kissed him. And when he smelled
36:03
Speaker 1: the smell of his garments, he blessed him. See, she
36:06
Speaker 1: even knew he would do that. When you're blind, your senses,
36:09
Speaker 1: your other senses are heightened. She knew his smell would
36:12
Speaker 1: be good. His ability to smell would be acute. And
36:16
Speaker 1: so she dressed him in the other boy's garment, and
36:18
Speaker 1: he blessed him and said, See, the smell of my
36:21
Speaker 1: son is like the smell of a field which the
36:23
Speaker 1: Lord has blessed. And he gives the blessing to him
36:27
Speaker 1: in verses 27, 28, and 29. Scene 4 begins at
36:35
Speaker 1: verse 30 and takes us through verse 40. And as
36:38
Speaker 1: you can imagine, it is Esau the older with his
36:41
Speaker 1: father Isaac. It's a tragic scene. All the while this
36:46
Speaker 1: deception has been going on, Esau has been out in
36:49
Speaker 1: the field trying to find game. He has located game
36:53
Speaker 1: and he has killed it and he's brought it back
36:56
Speaker 1: in hopes of receiving the blessing from his father. Verse 30.
36:59
Speaker 1: Came about, soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, Jacob
37:03
Speaker 1: had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father,
37:06
Speaker 1: that Esau, his brother, came in from hunting. He also
37:10
Speaker 1: made savory food and brought it to his father. And
37:13
Speaker 1: he said to his father, let my father arise and
37:16
Speaker 1: eat of his son's game so that you may bless me.
37:18
Speaker 1: And Isaac, his father, said to him, who are you?
37:24
Speaker 1: And he said, I am your son, your firstborn Esau.
37:32
Speaker 1: Isaac trembled violently and said, who was he then that
37:36
Speaker 1: hunted game and brought it to me so that I
37:38
Speaker 1: ate of all of it before you came and blessed him? Yes,
37:44
Speaker 1: and he shall be blessed when Esau heard the words
37:48
Speaker 1: of his father. Now watch this pathetic scene. He cried
37:54
Speaker 1: out with an exceeding great and bitter cry and said
37:57
Speaker 1: to his father, bless me, even me also, oh my father.
38:02
Speaker 1: He's now pleading for the blessing. And he said, your
38:05
Speaker 1: brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing. And
38:10
Speaker 1: he said, is he not rightly named Jacob? For he
38:13
Speaker 1: has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright.
38:18
Speaker 1: And now, behold, now he has taken away my blessing.
38:22
Speaker 1: And he said, have you not reserved a blessing for me?
38:26
Speaker 1: Isaac answered and said to Esau, behold, I have made
38:29
Speaker 1: him your master. and all his relatives I have given
38:32
Speaker 1: to him as servants. With grain and new wine I
38:38
Speaker 1: have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can
38:43
Speaker 1: I do, my son? Esau said to his father, Do
38:47
Speaker 1: you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even
38:53
Speaker 1: me also, O my father. So Esau lifted up his voice.
39:01
Speaker 1: and wept. Isaac's words follow and then Esau's tragic response.
39:11
Speaker 1: Verse 41, Esau naturally bore a grudge against Jacob because
39:21
Speaker 1: of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
39:25
Speaker 1: And Esau said to himself, the days of mourning for
39:30
Speaker 1: my father are near. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.
39:43
Speaker 1: Just look at that for a moment. Let's don't leave
39:46
Speaker 1: this quickly. It's a scene that's sort of a mixture
39:52
Speaker 1: of pathos and tragedy and irresponsibility and deception. Yes, Esau
40:00
Speaker 1: is getting what he had coming if you look at
40:02
Speaker 1: it strictly theologically. He passed off the birthright for a
40:08
Speaker 1: bowl of soup. And now he looks at the whole
40:12
Speaker 1: thing as it has unfolded and he says, my dad
40:16
Speaker 1: will be dead soon and when he dies... I will
40:19
Speaker 1: get back at Jacob. Remember the prophecy that had been
40:25
Speaker 1: made to the mother before she even gave birth. Two
40:28
Speaker 1: nations are in your womb. They will be separated from
40:31
Speaker 1: one another, and the older shall serve the younger, and
40:35
Speaker 1: it's beginning to transpire. Esau cannot win. When the words
40:49
Speaker 1: of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebecca, she
40:55
Speaker 1: sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him,
41:00
Speaker 1: you better watch out. Your brother Esau is consoling himself
41:05
Speaker 1: concerning you by planning to kill you. Now, therefore, my son,
41:11
Speaker 1: obey my voice and arise. Flee to Haran to my
41:15
Speaker 1: brother Laban. Stay with him a few days until your
41:18
Speaker 1: brother's fury subsides. Until your brother's anger against you subsides
41:25
Speaker 1: and he forgets what you did to him. Who is
41:29
Speaker 1: she kidding? He will never forget. He will forgive. That's
41:34
Speaker 1: the good part that comes later and we'll not try
41:37
Speaker 1: to get into that in this study. But he will
41:39
Speaker 1: never forget. She says, then I shall send and get
41:43
Speaker 1: you from there. Why should I be bereaved of of
41:46
Speaker 1: you both in one day. As soon as your dad dies,
41:49
Speaker 1: he will take your life. Get out of here, Jacob.
41:52
Speaker 1: Run for your life. Now notice how she handles it
41:56
Speaker 1: with Isaac. Verse 46. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I'm
42:03
Speaker 1: tired of living because of the daughters of Heth. Remember them?
42:09
Speaker 1: They're the ones that Esau married back in 26, 34,
42:11
Speaker 1: and 35. She says, I'm tired of of living in
42:17
Speaker 1: the same house with these daughters of Heth. If Jacob
42:21
Speaker 1: takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these,
42:25
Speaker 1: from the daughters of the land, what good will my
42:28
Speaker 1: life be to me? The way she words it prompts
42:33
Speaker 1: Isaac to say to Jacob, you better be out of here,
42:38
Speaker 1: my son. So he calls him, verse 1 of chapter 28,
42:43
Speaker 1: He calls Jacob and blesses him and charged him and said,
42:47
Speaker 1: you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise,
42:52
Speaker 1: go to paid an Aram to the house of Bethuel,
42:54
Speaker 1: your mother's father. And from there, take to yourself a
42:57
Speaker 1: wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. And
43:01
Speaker 1: may God almighty bless you and make you fruitful and
43:06
Speaker 1: multiply you that you may become a company of peoples.
43:10
Speaker 1: By the way, Does it concern you, as it does me,
43:14
Speaker 1: that he gives his son Jacob counsel in how to marry,
43:19
Speaker 1: but he never gave Esau counsel in how to marry?
43:25
Speaker 1: It seemed as though Esau was left to find a
43:27
Speaker 1: wife as he felt best about it, and it was
43:31
Speaker 1: a wrong choice, these women. And when it comes to Jacob,
43:35
Speaker 1: he instructs him where to go. He tells him who
43:37
Speaker 1: to marry or who not to marry. Don't take one
43:40
Speaker 1: of the Canaanitish women. Stay within the fold. May God
43:44
Speaker 1: Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you
43:47
Speaker 1: that you may become a company of people. May He
43:49
Speaker 1: give you the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants.
43:53
Speaker 1: Verse 5, Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to
43:56
Speaker 1: pay to Naram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian,
43:59
Speaker 1: the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
44:04
Speaker 1: So Jacob is on his way to find a wife.
44:07
Speaker 1: He leaves. No extra charge for this little tip. Your
44:15
Speaker 1: children need help in knowing how to choose a mate.
44:20
Speaker 1: Even if you have made a mess of your first
44:22
Speaker 1: marriage or perhaps even your second marriage, all the more
44:25
Speaker 1: reason for you to give your children assistance in knowing
44:28
Speaker 1: how to marry. Knowing what constitutes a mate. Knowing what
44:33
Speaker 1: is best for them or what will hurt them. What
44:36
Speaker 1: will encourage them. What will work against them. How to...
44:41
Speaker 1: enhance the family as opposed to hurting the family. Marriage
44:46
Speaker 1: is not an independent thing. It's a family affair. It
44:49
Speaker 1: links families together. It ties together long time roots. This
44:55
Speaker 1: boy needed assistance and he got it. Esau needed it
44:59
Speaker 1: all the more. In fact, look at the next verse.
45:01
Speaker 1: You'll see why I'm saying that. Esau saw that Isaac
45:05
Speaker 1: had blessed Jacob. See, he's watching this. He's longing for
45:09
Speaker 1: what Jacob has. He saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob
45:14
Speaker 1: and that Isaac had sent him away to pay to
45:17
Speaker 1: Naram to take to himself a wife from there. And
45:20
Speaker 1: that when he blessed him, he charged him saying, you
45:22
Speaker 1: shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
45:25
Speaker 1: You think that didn't cut to the heart of Esau?
45:28
Speaker 1: He's got two wives from the daughters of Canaan. and
45:31
Speaker 1: that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and
45:34
Speaker 1: had gone to pay to Naram. So look at this.
45:37
Speaker 1: Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac.
45:42
Speaker 1: What did he do? Well, Esau went to Ishmael and married,
45:47
Speaker 1: besides the wives that he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael,
45:51
Speaker 1: Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth. It is Esau's way
45:56
Speaker 1: thinking perhaps this will help win the favors. Perhaps this
46:00
Speaker 1: will bring me back in good stead. Maybe I will
46:02
Speaker 1: have something I've never had before. Time doesn't permit us
46:08
Speaker 1: to travel all the way to the end of the story.
46:10
Speaker 1: Esau ultimately does encounter Jacob. Jacob is scared, spitless. He
46:15
Speaker 1: is convinced that Esau is going to put an end
46:18
Speaker 1: to his life, and as a matter of fact, he
46:20
Speaker 1: does not do that. By then, time has passed, and
46:23
Speaker 1: Esau has not carried out or will not carry out
46:27
Speaker 1: his plan to take his brother's life. And by the way,
46:31
Speaker 1: I'm fully aware of what the New Testament says about Esau.
46:36
Speaker 1: I'm aware of the difficulty of the verse out of Romans,
46:39
Speaker 1: Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Quoting from
46:42
Speaker 1: Malachi chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. I'm also aware
46:48
Speaker 1: that Hebrews 12, 16 calls Esau an immoral and godless person.
46:54
Speaker 1: I'm aware of that. Theologically, I'm aware of it. That's
46:57
Speaker 1: another study, another subject for another time. My purpose here
47:01
Speaker 1: is more horizontal. What I want you to see is
47:03
Speaker 1: a family in conflict. What I want you to see
47:07
Speaker 1: is favoritism among parents. And the tragic results that follow
47:14
Speaker 1: such an encounter are such a process that is never
47:18
Speaker 1: dealt with and is never faced. Let me close with
47:23
Speaker 1: some lingering lessons that I draw from the story of
47:26
Speaker 1: the son who couldn't win. I find three of them,
47:31
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, that are timeless. And I
47:35
Speaker 1: think you will agree with me when I've given them
47:39
Speaker 1: to you. Here's the first. Instant gratification is a dangerous
47:45
Speaker 1: basis for making a major decision. Instant gratification is a
47:53
Speaker 1: dangerous basis for making a major decision. I draw this
48:04
Speaker 1: out of the life of Esau where he settles the
48:07
Speaker 1: account by giving up his birthright for a bowl of soup.
48:12
Speaker 1: Some of you give up your loneliness in an apartment
48:15
Speaker 1: for a quick marriage, which you later horribly regret. Some
48:22
Speaker 1: of you trade off the momentary difficulties you are living
48:28
Speaker 1: with for a partnership in a business relationship. that provides
48:34
Speaker 1: instant financial relief. The problem is you have to do
48:37
Speaker 1: business with a partner who doesn't have a heart for God,
48:41
Speaker 1: as you do. There is instant gratification, but it's a
48:46
Speaker 1: very dangerous basis for making that major decision. When you
48:51
Speaker 1: come to major decisions in life, and you don't need
48:54
Speaker 1: to be told what they are, you know what they are.
48:57
Speaker 1: Take time. Pull back. Try to be as objective as possible.
49:04
Speaker 1: Listen to counsel that tells you what you don't want
49:07
Speaker 1: to hear. Pay attention to it. If you don't, lengthy
49:13
Speaker 1: consequences will follow, and they will dog your steps, perhaps
49:18
Speaker 1: for the rest of your life. Second, parental favoritism has
49:25
Speaker 1: a damaging effect on the whole family. Parental favoritism has
49:33
Speaker 1: a damaging effect on the whole family. And unresolved conflicts
49:42
Speaker 1: will continue to surface. Kids do not outgrow the feelings
49:51
Speaker 1: of prejudiced parents or parents that played favorites. Let me
49:58
Speaker 1: just talk straight with you for a moment, may I?
50:03
Speaker 1: You have a family. You have several children in the family.
50:09
Speaker 1: One of them is especially easy to raise. Or one
50:13
Speaker 1: of them has a temperament that matches yours or maybe
50:17
Speaker 1: is different from yours and you find great delight in
50:21
Speaker 1: that oneness of heart. It might be a precious daughter
50:25
Speaker 1: or it might be a son that was rather easy
50:28
Speaker 1: to raise. If you are not careful, unwittingly, you will
50:34
Speaker 1: add special favors. You will release disciplines. You will even
50:40
Speaker 1: deceive by encouraging that favoritism. Don't think for a moment
50:50
Speaker 1: that the other members of the family miss that. I
50:56
Speaker 1: think some of the sharpest people on earth are children.
51:01
Speaker 1: They see right through us. We were at the breakfast
51:07
Speaker 1: table I mentioned with all the grandkids. And we had
51:11
Speaker 1: little pieces of paper that they were to color. And
51:15
Speaker 1: problem is there were no crayons. And so the kids
51:19
Speaker 1: asked us half dozen times, can we have some crayons?
51:23
Speaker 1: And I looked at one of our grandchildren and I
51:26
Speaker 1: said to him, yes, we're going to get crayons. Now
51:31
Speaker 1: just wait a minute. And they didn't come. And you know,
51:35
Speaker 1: with children, if they're not there in 30 seconds, then
51:38
Speaker 1: there's something wrong with you. And Parker looked at me
51:40
Speaker 1: and batted those big eyes and he said, Bubba, you
51:43
Speaker 1: promised me and you cannot break a promise to me.
51:46
Speaker 1: I said, I know, son, I know. I'm not going
51:48
Speaker 1: to break a promise. I mean, he was connecting with
51:51
Speaker 1: me and reminding me I gave my word. Don't you
51:55
Speaker 1: think for a moment that though children are small, even
51:58
Speaker 1: preschool age, that they miss a promise or that they
52:02
Speaker 1: will easily and quickly overlook Something that you said would happen.
52:09
Speaker 1: If it doesn't happen, you better have an answer. You
52:11
Speaker 1: better have an explanation and it better be the truth. Third,
52:17
Speaker 1: unconditional acceptance is a longing in the heart of every person.
52:28
Speaker 1: And no one outgrows it. Unconditional acceptance is a longing
52:36
Speaker 1: in the heart of every person. It begins when we
52:39
Speaker 1: are children. And the first ones we long to have
52:44
Speaker 1: that acceptance with is our parent. When was the last
52:52
Speaker 1: time you looked deeply into the eyes of your children,
52:57
Speaker 1: or perhaps each one, one at a time, and expressed
53:02
Speaker 1: without any any hidden agenda, your love, your acceptance, the
53:11
Speaker 1: treasure you find in that child, your pleasure, they may
53:21
Speaker 1: never ask for it, but they never forget it when
53:25
Speaker 1: it's given. It is a wonderful thing as we grow
53:32
Speaker 1: a bit older to see the dimensions of an investment grow.
53:40
Speaker 1: As God raises our children to adulthood in our family,
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Speaker 1: and as we see the byproducts of our lives being
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Speaker 1: carried out in the lives of their marriages and their children,
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Speaker 1: there is a sense of enormous satisfaction. And it makes
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Speaker 1: me want to say to every young parent I encounter,
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Speaker 1: it's worth it all. Take time. Pay attention. Go to
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Speaker 1: the trouble. Say your feelings. Remember you are being watched
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Speaker 1: and heard. Esau saw Jacob being counseled in his marriage.
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Speaker 1: Esau knew he had gotten none of that. Esau heard
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Speaker 1: that a Canaanite woman broke the heart of his mother.
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Speaker 1: and he would go so far as to marry again.
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Speaker 1: Maybe that would win favor. That's sort of the way
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Speaker 1: we're made, isn't it? There's one great fact, and that
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Speaker 1: is with our Heavenly Father, there is unconditional acceptance. And
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Speaker 1: you never have to earn it. It comes because of
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Speaker 1: his grace. Let's bow for a few moments of quietness
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Speaker 1: and then prayer before we leave our story. Could it
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Speaker 1: be that enough has been said to prompt one or
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Speaker 1: two of you to take the time before this week
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Speaker 1: has passed to write a letter or to put your
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Speaker 1: arms around if your children are still with you for
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Speaker 1: you to say how very much he or she means
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Speaker 1: to you? How about a nice lunch with one of
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Speaker 1: your grown children you haven't been with for a while?
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Speaker 1: It doesn't need to be heavy the whole time, but
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Speaker 1: make sure it includes a few moments where you look
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Speaker 1: into those eyes and tell that now grown child of
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Speaker 1: yours how very much he or she means. Maybe they're
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Speaker 1: miles away and it would mean a letter or a
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Speaker 1: phone call. Father, I thank you this moment for the
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Speaker 1: truth of your book for the value of principles that
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Speaker 1: live on beyond the stories of lives in it. I
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Speaker 1: thank you for these who have listened so carefully. And
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Speaker 1: I pray that as a result of what we have
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Speaker 1: uncovered from the life of a man we've never met,
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Speaker 1: from a family that we have never seen, that we
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Speaker 1: might see enough here to apply it to our lives
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Speaker 1: this very day. In our hurried and busy world, it
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Speaker 1: is easy for us to assume that these basic things
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Speaker 1: are known by those who are brought into our family.
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Speaker 1: Encourage us, Lord, to continue to be parents who are sensitive, loving, affirming,
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Speaker 1: and verbal in our affection. Thank you for giving us
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures true stories of people who experienced much
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Speaker 1: of what we go through, take these things and use
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Speaker 1: them in our lives and families for the good of
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Speaker 1: our future and for the glory of your name. We
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Speaker 1: pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Esau, the son who couldn't win, was
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in 1990, 1992, 2001, 2006, 2012, and 2024, and
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Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.