Examining Esau
Genesis 25:27-34
October 12, 2014
Last week we jumped back in to our study of Genesis
And we introduced Moses’ next two major players in the book of Genesis.
• He’s shown us Adam who taught us about sin
• He’s shown us Noah who taught us about judgment
• He’s shown us Abraham who taught us about salvation
Last week he introduced Isaac and Jacob (really about Jacob)
WHO TEACHES US ABOUT GRACE.
We commonly sing
“Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved, how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.”
But the reality is that grace was at work in your life
Long before you ever believed.
• It was the grace of God that you were exposed to the gospel
• It was the grace of God that you were made aware of your sin
• It was the grace of God that you even comprehended the truth
But even more than that, if you are saved, it was God’s grace
To first choose you and determine to make a vessel of mercy out of you.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
It is not an overstatement to say, that the only reason we are saved at all
Is because we are recipients of grace.
And we began examining the realities of this fact last week
As we looked at Genesis 25.
As I told you last time, Genesis 25 is a chapter of contrasts.
• First Moses contrasts Isaac to Ishmael
• Then he contrasts Jacob to Esau
And the clear and unmistakable point is that Isaac and Jacob were chosen
While Ishmael and Esau were not.
The peculiar thing is that in both cases,
God even chose the less obvious of the two.
But God the Potter has the right to choose whomever He will.
And from there we ventured in to Romans 9, a chapter that challenges those who seem to think election is some sort of unfair reality.
Those who look at the truths of election and say, “NO FAIR!”
Paul’s sobering and penetrating response was this:
Romans 9:20-21 “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”
It all comes down to having a proper perspective of who God is
And a proper perspective of who we are.
• He is Creator, we are created
• He is Holy, we are fallen
• He is Omnipotent, we are weak
• He is Truth, we are depraved
• He is Love, we are selfish
• He is Eternal, we are mortal
• He is Judge, we are the judged
Understanding election rests upon your ability to comprehend the fact that God is higher than you in every regard.
Refusing to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over His creation in all things
Is a tragic move that fails to understand the depravity of man
And the glory of God.
It wrongly places the Savior and the Sinner on equal ground.
Isaiah 29:16 “You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Isaiah 45:9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker — An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?”
So I hope you are beginning to understand that this popular attitude today
That puts man’s will at the center of salvation is a dangerous perversion.
God has always been and will always be at the center of salvation.
Salvation has always been about God’s sovereign will,
And never the fallen will of the sinner.
Romans 9:16 “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”
And that is precisely what I want to show you this morning
As we finish Genesis 25.
One of the biggest misconceptions of those who hold to this
“free will of man” notion is that man will choose God.
They suppose that if everyone simply has a choice then of their own accord sinners will choose God and choose to be saved.
This is so naïve
Ephesians outlines what sinners want.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
Fallen sinful man does not desire a relationship with God
Fallen sinful man desires sin
The only thing that can cause a sinner
To quit seeking sin and start seeking God
Is the grace of God in the sinners life to change his heart.
The very next verses in Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved),”
The sinner didn’t suddenly change his mind
God changed the sinners mind
The sinner didn’t finally decide to leave his sin
God pulled him out of it
It was the mercy of God, it was the grace of God
Purposely and sovereignly making a difference
In the life of an otherwise unwilling sinner.
And of course that is Isaac and Jacob (and you and I)
Vessels of mercy, recipients of grace
But this morning I want to look at the other side, I want to examine Esau.
Esau is the perfect illustration because Esau was clearly not chosen.
Now, you must understand that while God does choose and predestine
You and I have no possible capacity to know who that is and is not.
You and I can never look at another human and say,
“Well, he’s obviously not chosen”
(would have written off Paul for sure)
You don’t know, only God knows
(be a missionary!)
The only reason we can look at Esau as an example is because he is one of only two people in Scripture that we do know was not chosen.
(Judas being the other)
How do we know Esau was not chosen?
Genesis 25:23 “The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”
Malachi 1:2-3 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”
This is not information we are normally privy to,
But in this case God had allowed us to see into His divine elective plan.
So we can look at Esau as an example of those who were not chosen.
And the question is this.
Is God preventing Esau from salvation?
• You know, since God didn’t choose him, do we see Esau begging to be saved and yet continually hindered by God from salvation?
• Is Esau a man who so desperately wants to be godly, but he is hindered and restrained by God’s election?
And the answer you will see is “NO”
Here is the sad reality.
• Esau wants no part of salvation
• Esau wants no part of godliness
• Esau could care less about the things of God
And this is true for every human unless God intervenes.
But let me show you that
Esau was not a man trying to be saved and yet restrained.
Esau was a man who wanted no part of salvation.
And to show you that let’s look at Genesis 25:27-34
And there are two main points we’ll look at, and then do some more searching
#1 THE BOYS
Genesis 25:27-28
Now we won’t spend much time here except to point out again that of the two boys, Jacob is not the one that you and I would have probably picked.
I mean look at them.
“Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.”
Incidentally “peaceful” was just a kind way of saying “soft”
And just think about these boys for a second.
This is Duck Dynasty meets Martha Stuart
We have here “The Hunter & The Homemaker”
These boys are different as night and day
And their difference even caused a division among their parents.
(28) “Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
It is important for you to recognize here another one of the mistakes of Isaac.
Isaac was a man of flesh and you’ll find him living much of his life in this manner.
Isaac wasn’t what we would call a model man of faith,
But once again, he was chosen and this made all the difference.
But Isaac here has little concern about the oracle of God,
He still chooses Esau based on Esau’s “man’s man” mentality.
However Rebekah chooses Jacob.
Whether she chose him because of the prophecy or because he was a momma’s boy we don’t really know.
But again we are reminded that these two boys are drastically different,
And if you were to choose one to be the patriarch of a nation,
You’d probably pick Esau.
Now that is just the boys, let’s get to the issue at hand.
#2 THE BIRTHRIGHT
Genesis 25:29-34
There were two distinct things that a Jewish boy wanted from his father.
One was the birthright, the other was the blessing.
The blessing is sadly a little foreign to us, as we don’t see it much in our culture.
It is important and we’ll talk about it a little more later.
But the birthright you probably understand.
We do live in a nation that understands a thing or two about inheritance.
This was the physical inheritance.
If you’ll remember Isaac got the birthright from Abraham.
Genesis 25:5-6 “Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.”
The birthright was the whole shebang!
There was none of this divide it up evenly among heirs in that day.
Only one got the birthright.
And incidentally it was always the oldest, the firstborn who received it.
(except in instances where God intervened)
That is why when we read this text,
It is already understood that the birthright belongs to Esau and not Jacob.
Both of those boys knew that without having to be told.
Furthermore, given Isaac’s affinity for Esau over Jacob, this was a certainty.
Someday Esau would get the birthright.
And the main thing I want you to grasp about the birthright
Is that it pertains to things in the future, not the present.
(Just like an inheritance)
A birthright brings a future satisfaction, not a present one.
Now let’s look at this peculiar story.
(29-30) “When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.”
The ironic thing about this story is that we here
Have an interesting swapping of roles.
Esau was usually the hunter that set traps for his prey,
But on this day it wasn’t Esau that was doing the hunting, it was Jacob.
Jacob set the trap, Jacob baited the hook,
And along came his prey just as expected.
We talked about this extensively last Sunday night in our study of James.
James 1:14 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”
(Deer take the bait for deer corn and thus get killed)
They are what the Scripture calls “unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed”
And yet that is precisely how Esau is acting here.
It is his inner lust for immediate satisfaction
That has caused him to step right into the trap Jacob has set.
Esau is hungry (he thinks he is starving) and he wants a bowl of soup.
(31-34) “But Jacob said, ” First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Certainly you caught the main point of those 4 verses.
“Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
And from Moses’ perspective this is an absolutely heinous crime!
Aside from the obvious disrespect it shows
To all that God had given Abraham and Isaac,
It is foolish picture of a man who traded his future for the present.
Obviously Scripture repeatedly and emphatically tells us not to do this.
If you want an illustration that will stick with you, let me give you this one.
Revelation 13:16-18 “And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”
If you don’t take the mark, you don’t buy, sell, or eat.
If you do take the mark, you get destroyed for all eternity.
Revelation 14:9-10 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”
Obviously you either pick comfort in the present, or comfort for eternity.
That is why John said, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast,”
The word “calculate” there is the same word Jesus used:
Luke 14:28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”
John is saying, “Think about the cost of this decision”
Yes taking the mark will make today better, but what about tomorrow.
That is the type of decision that Esau is staring at.
Comfort today or blessing tomorrow
Scripture never shies away from telling you to always choose tomorrow!
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
You see not only Esau’s foolishness, but you also see where his heart is.
• He is a fleshly man
• He is a man of temporary carnal lust
• He is a man of instant gratification
And his disdain for his birthright is seen in THREE distinct ways
1) HE WAS UNDISTURBED (31-32)
“But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”
Esau should have been appalled at the audacity of Jacob
Esau should have scoffed at such a foolish notion
He should have said, “You are out of your mind!”
And yet, it didn’t even bother him
He said, “I am about to die” (a slight over exaggeration) “of what use then is the birthright to me?”
That is a man who drastically undervalues
All that God had blessed Abraham and Isaac with.
We also see his disdain in the fact that:
2) HE WAS UNDISCERNING (33)
“And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.”
What was the purpose of swearing?
• This was an oath
• This was a contract
And oaths and contracts aren’t for the present, they are for the future
This oath was to protect the agreement here from future difficulty
Esau should have recognized how serious Jacob was here
And that in the future he might live to regret this decision.
But Esau was totally undiscerning and unconcerned about future matters.
How foolish is the man who trades his future for the present.
3) HE WAS UNDITHERED (34)
(This means he wasn’t even bothered)
“Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way.”
We don’t even get a hint of a “What have I done?” mentality.
There is no remorse, there is no sorrow
He is totally fine with what he just did.
And to all that Moses says, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
SO WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THAT STORY?
The point here is that Esau was clearly a man
Who did not desire the things God might have for him.
You can read that God chose Jacob over Esau and say, “Oh poor Esau”,
But look at Esau. He didn’t care. He didn’t want the things of God.
He valued all that God might have for him
As less value than a bowl of pea soup.
(Have you ever had pea soup? That’s a horrible trade)
Esau is an eternal example of a sinful man who loves sin
And who does not care for God.
In fact, the New Testament actually uses him as this example.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 12:12-17
(Any time an Old Testament story is used in the New Testament,
You must interpret it in light of its New Testament revelation and application)
If you are familiar with Hebrews 12 you know it begins with that famous passage about running the race with endurance.
It is a chapter written in response to hardship and discipline
And it is a chapter written to remind you of God’s purpose in your pain
And to encourage you to persevere in the midst of it.
And when we get down to verse 12 of the chapter
The writer moves to the application / exhortation part of the chapter.
(READ VERSE 12) – WHAT TO STRENGTHEN
This is a verse that calls for encouragement.
You have weak and tired and feeble brothers and sisters who want to quit,
DON’T LET THEM.
(READ VERSE 13) – WHAT TO STRAIGHTEN
This is a verse that calls for an example.
“lame” there is actually a word that can mean “vacillating”
The writer actually sees a tired and vacillating brother
Who could go either direction at this point.
You run straight, and stay in your lane, so those who are following you will take the good path, won’t fall into the hole, and will recover.
(READ VERSE 14) – WHAT TO SEEK
This is still more about your example.
Obviously here seek “peace” and “sanctification”
Don’t intentionally make life harder on yourself than it has to be,
But above all make sure that you are holy before God.
And then comes the verses I want you to see.
(READ VERSES 15-17) – WHAT TO SCREEN
In verse 15, look out for the UNDERACHIEVER
“See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God;”
This is the lost person who is in your congregation.
They are in church sure enough, but it is obvious they have not yet been saved. The fruit is not there, they do not yet get it.
Don’t let them be content to be in church but not know Christ.
Don’t let them stop short.
In verse 15, look out for the ROOT OF BITTERNESS
“that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;”
This is the grumbler and discourager
Who keeps others from fulfilling God’s calling in their life.
The writer says watch out for those people and don’t let them spread their bitterness to others – SILENCE THEM
And then in verses 16 and 17, look out for THE GODLESS PERSON
“that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit a blessing, he was rejected for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
Esau “sold his own birthright for a single meal”
And did you catch what Scripture called him for doing it?
“immoral” and “godless”
There are two interesting words.
“immoral” translates PORNOS
It’s where we get our word for pornography
It means fornication or adultery
It pictures a man that is sensual and lustful
And who only cares to gratify his sinful flesh.
This is the type of man Esau was.
It was all about the natural fleshly craving of his own life.
No discernment, no respect, no love, just a basic fleshly lust for food.
“godless” translates BEBELOS
(BELOS is the word for “threshold”)
(BAINO, the prefix means “to go”)
It is “to go over the threshold”
It means “permitted to be trodden”
Another way to put it is “accessible”
It is a word that came to mean “unhallowed” or “unsacred”
If we were describing a woman it would be “loose” or “easy”
This word came to be known as the opposite of “sacred”
And since God is what makes things sacred,
This word became translated as “godless”
Esau was this type of man.
He followed the lusts of his flesh and indulged in anything he wanted
Regardless of what God had to say about it.
He was “immoral” and he was “godless” and he proved that
When followed the flesh and sold his birthright.
And if that was not enough, he later sealed the deal:
“For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
Oh, he cried alright (trying to manipulate Isaac with his tears)
Oh, he felt remorse alright
BUT HE NEVER REPENTED
He never let go of his sin
AND THAT IS THE POINT
God wasn’t a monster who held Esau back from what He wanted, Esau never wanted God.
And listen – SINNERS NEVER DO
Philippians 3:17-19 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
That was Esau, that’s all he wanted
In effect he made this decision right there before Jacob.
He wanted soup, not God or God’s blessings.
So you can fault God for not choosing Esau, but that is looking at this thing the wrong way. It was Esau who did not choose God.
And incidentally, that would be true for all of us.
NONE OF US WOULD HAVE CHOSEN GOD
But He chose us.
He pulled us out, He set His grace on us
If He hadn’t, we would be just like Esau.
Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
That is the story of Genesis 25!
Moses is taking Isaac and Jacob and telling you
To recognize what grace looks like.
If God had not intervened no one would be saved.
• But God in His mercy stepped in and saved Isaac
• God in His mercy stepped in and saved Jacob
• God in His mercy stepped in and saved you
You have to understand this
So that you will give God the glory He deserves!
You have to understand this
So you will honor God as the sovereign and gracious Potter He is.
You and I are nothing but Esau’s who’ve been treated like Jacob
Praise God for such amazing grace!
